FINDING THE WAY
by FrejaDK
Summary: Arizona joins the Seattle Grace team of surgeons as the new head of peds. She's intrigued by badass ortho surgeon, Callie Torres. Initially the blonde tries for a friendship, but maybe she wants more...
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: English is not my first language so be gentle. Also, I know nothing about medicine. Google helps me :-)**

**I've read so much Callie/Arizona fanfiction that I cannot be completely sure if this story (or parts of it) is truly something I have thought of myself or if I – unintentionally – have stolen from others. If the latter happens to be the case, I am very sorry.**

CHAPTER 1

The OR was quiet and Arizona was alone. She liked to stick around even after the surgery was over and everybody else had left. Especially if the surgery hadn't been successful. And today was one of those days. She leaned against the wall and took a deep breath. She lost 4 patients in 3 hours. She needed a drink.

"You okay?"

Teddy was standing in the door and knew exactly how bad Arizona was feeling.

"Besides the fact that I'm covered in blood you mean?" the blonde responded.

"Point taken" Teddy said. "You want to join me for a drink at Joe's?"

"God yes! Let me go take a quick shower and I'll be right there".

15 minutes later Arizona was walking through the peds ward headed towards the hospital lobby where Teddy was waiting. The events of the day, the chaos of a traffic accident involving a school bus, were slowly starting to lose their grip on the blonde.

She was wearing a dark blue low cut shirt and tight blacks jeans. Knowing she was on her way to meet her best friend, she was feeling great.

Joe's was crowded as always on a Friday night.

The two women made their way through the crowd and sat down in a booth away from the guitar playing singer-songwriter of the night so that they could talk in peace.

Arizona had just transferred from Boston Children's Hospital to Seattle Grace. She got the position as head of peds and was exited that she was now working in the same hospital as her best friend from med school, Teddy, who was also a surgeon, working in cardio. It had been a crappy first week though. She'd gone from surgery to surgery - which was great because she loved surgery and the rush of the OR - but a lot of her cases had been lost ones.

So what she needed now that the working day was over, was to hang lose and drink some alcohol.

The two women just sat there for a while, silent. They both enjoyed the sound of the soft music mixing with people's chatter.

"How are things with you and Henry?" Arizona asked. Teddy had been flirting with a guy from oncology for a few months.

"Good, good" Teddy said with a shy smile "He finally asked me out"

"That's great! Although I haven't met or seen him yet, so I can't really give you my approval of him yet" Arizona said with a wink.

"You'll like him. He's funny and charming and sweet and..."

"A hunk?"

"Yes, that too" Teddy was all smiles. "What about you? Have you been getting any lady action lately?"

"I only just arrived a week ago, Teddy. I don't move THAT fast"

"Well then, have you seen anything you like around the hospital?"

"You ask as if I've been staying at The Bunny Farm"

They both laughed and as Arizona took a sip of her drink and contemplated whether or not she had actually seen or met someone interesting at the hospital, the front door to the bar opened and in walked a tall guy followed by the most gorgeous latina woman Arizona had ever laid her eyes on. She had long beautiful legs, long dark, and wavy hair and was wearing the sexiest short red dress in the world. The attire hugged her curves in all the right places and her heels were sexy. Arizona nearly gasped.

The two newcomers walked to the bar and exchanged pleasantries with the bartender. They ordered drinks and when the bartender brought them their order the latina took one of the shots in front of her and drank it without as much as blinking. 'Sexy!'

The brunette engaged in a conversation with the guy and didn't notice that from across the room she was being examined closely by the blonde doctor.

"Who are you staring at? Teddy asked "Everyone in here is from the hospital, so no matter who caught your attention, I'll have some gossip about them" Teddy chuckled.

"Okay. Tell me who that is then?" Arizona asked and motioned towards the two at the bar.

"Oh right, they weren't there at introduction. That's Mark Sloan. He's in plastics. And Callie Torres. She's an attending in ortho."

Arizona was staring at the brunette which didn't go unnoticed by Teddy.

"Hot, huh?" she said and winked at Arizona.

"Shut up, Teddy" Arizona took a sip of her drink "I CAN keep it in my pants, you know. I'm just interested in these new colleagues of mine"

Teddy rolled her eyes. "You mean to say that you are not, right now, fantasizing about having those loooong, tanned legs wrapped around you? I mean, I'm awfully straight, but I'd do her. She's HOT"

The gorgeous brunette saw Teddy and waved a 'hi' in her direction. Then she turned back towards the guy she was talking to.

"Well, okay, she's very hot" Arizona let out and both her and Teddy chuckled.

"She's pretty badass. Great at her work. Keeps to herself. Has a reputation of being a little scary. But I like her. We get along. Mark is her best friend. They used to have a thing but these days I think they use each other more as sounding board when they have new sexual conquests to talk about".

"So she's straight." Arizona concluded.

"Yes. I mean, I don't know her that well, but I'm assuming she's straight since she's been roaming around in on call rooms with Mark Sloan"

Arizona looked slightly defeated.

"Whether women were straight or not didn't use to stop you from taking them home as far as I remember? I used to share an apartment with you, you know, and I've seen more straight girls walking out of your bedroom in the morning than I had miles on my old car."

"Please. It was never that bad"

Teddy raised her eyebrows. Arizona tried to avoid making eye contact with her friend.

"Besides, I haven't been with a straight girl for years, and believe me, I don't miss it"

"Whatever. All I know is, you can't keep your eyes off Torres, and in the good old days you would have taken the challenge to seduce her"

"I'm a better person now" Arizona said with a wide grin.

Teddy just laughed "Sure you are, Robbins. Sure you are"

Arizona lifted her beer in the air and said "To being better people"

The two friends laughed, toasted, and changed the subject, but Arizona kept stealing glances of the latina at the bar. She looked magnificent.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

It took all of two weeks before Arizona saw Doctor Torres again. A 9-year-old boy with a broken femur had come in. It was a complicated fracture, and Arizona had paged ortho.

Arizona heard Callie Torres' voice before she saw her. The blonde was standing with her back to the door looking at x-rays when the other doctor stepped into the room.

"Ortho for peds?" was all Callie said, and without turning around, Arizona knew that it was doctor Torres and not the frumpy old doctor Milton she had worked with on her last ortho-related case.

That amazing voice could only belong to the woman she had seen at the bar that night a couple of weeks back.

She turned around and nearly forgot to answer Callie's question.

The latina was in scrubs and looked badass sexy. Her scrub cap was dark red which fit very well with her complexion and dark eyes. Underneath her scrub top she was wearing a tight long sleeved shirt, but she had rolled up the sleeves, exposing her strong forearms, and everything combined almost made Arizona loose her cool.

"Yeah...uh...I'm new. Arizona Robbins." She managed to say and stuck out her hand.

"Oh, the new head of peds?"

"Yes" Arizona gave the latina her best smile.

Callie took her hand.

"Callie Torres, ortho. Welcome to Seattle Grace"

"Thank you" Callie didn't look like she was prepared for small talk so Arizona turned to the x-rays on the wall "...uh...so...femur fracture, no skin wounds. I'm thinking possible nerve damage. Open reduction and internal fixation?"

Callie studied the pictures.

"Yes, we definitely have to go in. I'll book OR 5 right away"

And just like that Callie was out the door.

Later Arizona noticed that her name was next to Callie's on the board, scheduled for a femur operation at 4 o'clock. At least it was going to be with Callie and not doctor Milton.

She grabbed two coffees from the third floor coffee cart and headed towards the pit to see if she could find Teddy. She needed a break.

Teddy was standing in the middle of the emergency room with a group of interns around her. Seattle Grace being a teaching hospital this was not such an uncommon sight. Teddy however, was yelling at the interns and as Arizona got closer to the group she could hear that Teddy was scolding them for not knowing how to do sutures right.

Arizona chuckled and padded Teddy on the back.

"Let them off the hook, Doctor Altman. It's Friday"

As soon as Teddy's attention was no longer aimed at the interns, they dispersed in all direction as fast as they could.

Teddy rolled her eyes.

"It has been a HORRIBLE day, Arizona! First the idiots lost a bunch of lab result. I mean, how do you lose lab result when all you have to do is pick them up from the lab and walk directly HERE? Then one of the brainless dummies spilled a bag of urine all over my pants. And last but not least, some sutures on a 94-year-old lady had to be REDONE. Can you believe it?"

Arizona was now laughing out loud.

"Sounds like you have your hands full with that group"

"Ya think? Please tell me one of those coffees is for me!" Teddy looked desperate.

"As a matter of fact it is"

"You're an angel!"

The two walked to the nearest staff area to sit down and chat a little.

"How's life?" Teddy asked. "I haven't seen you all week"

"Well, I've barely left my office. All the paperwork that comes with being head of the department is not fun." Arizona sighed.

"You need to go out with me and have some fun"

"What do you have in mind? I'm free tonight after a femur surgery at 4"

"Femur?" Teddy raised her eyebrows.

"Yes"

"With doctor Tooooorressss?" Teddy mocked.

"Yes"

"Well then, I'll stick around to see how that plays out and then we can hit the bar afterwards"

"What do you mean 'how that plays out'?"

"I mean, you're this peds-doctor-ray-of-sunshine-butterflies-on-your-scrub-cap-cute-summer-music when you're at work. ESPECIALLY in the OR. It's your playground. It's her playground too, but she's an ortho goddess, and I'm not sure she likes light chatter. Or Sheryl Crow."

"Well, I'll just have to see if I can lighten her mood up a little bit. Maybe her and I could be friends"

"Good luck, Robbins. You'll need it" Teddy got up. She threw Arizona a quirky smile "See you down here when you're ready for a drink."

"Sounds good"

Arizona stayed sitting down for a bit, resting her feet before the next surgery.

She contemplated this new situation. She was intrigued by doctor Torres. But she had been honest with Teddy; she no longer felt the need to conquer straight women and had actually reached a point where having an actual girlfriend instead of just one-night-stand after one-night-stand sounded pretty good to her. Also, she was determined to focus on her career, to make a good impression at her new work place, and to not always be the lesbian talk of the town. So far she was managing well she thought and smiled to herself. And the surgery with Callie was going to be a walk in the park.

She sighed. Her mind started to wander.

Callie.

Callie in scrubs.

Callie in a tight red dress.

Naked Callie.

"Whoa, Robbins!" She said to herself "Keep it together now!"

Determined to do a good job and make some sort of a good impression, Arizona headed towards OR 5.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

The OR was pretty quiet for the operation. It wasn't an overly complicated procedure and normally Arizona would try to keep the mood light by talking or making sure happy music was on. Today however, she felt nervous. Right in front of her was Callie. Fully concentrated on inserting metal rods into the leg of a child. And Arizona had a hard time focusing. Teddy's words kept repeating themselves in her head.

Callie hadn't said a word other than the usual practical exchanges with the OR nurses.

Arizona decided to take the jump.

"So Callie is short for Calliope? That's a powerful name" Arizona had seen Callie's full first name on her lab coat before Callie scrubbed in.

Callie froze for a second, and then continued her work with the bone drill.

"I just go by Callie"

"That's a shame"

"Why?"

"Carrying the name of a muse is not to be taken lightly"

Callie looked up.

"No offense but you sound like my mom"

"She must be a wonderful person" Arizona shot the ortho surgeon a wide smile, making sure Callie saw her dimples.

Callie gave her a dead glare and returned to the femur.

'Well, that went less great than I thought it would' Arizona thought to herself. She decided to keep her mouth shut for the rest of the surgery.

Callie was every bit as brilliant as her reputation said, and they finished up the surgery fast.

As soon as everything was closed up, Callie looked at Arizona, gave her a courteous nod, turned around, and left the OR.

"Jeez, what a fountain of joy" Arizona said under her breath.

"She's not as bad as everybody thinks" a voice came from behind the blonde.

Arizona turned around to find a short woman standing in front of her. The woman stuck out her hand.

"Nurse Bailey. Welcome to Seattle Grace"

Arizona shook the woman's hand and shook her head lightly.

"Thanks. Well, she sure does make it hard to believe that" Arizona said while taking off her gown. "Not a big talker is she?"

"With the right people she is. She doesn't know you, so hello and goodbye is all you get. At best" Bailey smiled and on her way out she said "Don't take it too hard"

Arizona scrubbed out and went to take a shower. She entered the staff locker room wondering if her dimpled charm had lost its power and if she was ever gonna make a friend besides Teddy in Seattle.

When she got into the locker room she heard the shower was on and immediately realized that it was probably Callie taking a shower. She froze. Behind that glass screen was a naked Callie Torres who didn't seem like she enjoyed getting to know other people very much.

"Mark! Stop perving on me!"

Arizona blinked. Silence.

"Mark?"

Arizona didn't know what to do, so she just grabbed her bag out of her locker and ran out the door.

'What just happened?' she thought to herself. 'Jesus, you'd think I'd have the decency to at least answer the woman. God!'

She was walking down the hall and Teddy came into view. She smiled at Arizona but her smile fainted a little when she saw what Arizona was wearing.

"You're still in scrubs?"

Arizona walked right past her and threw an "I'll change in your office" over her shoulder. "If you have any alcohol in there I'll love you forever"

Teddy smiled. "The surgery was interesting, I take it?" Teddy yelled and ran after her friend.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

After Arizona changed, the two friends headed to Joe's for a drink.

They sat down at the bar and ordered two glasses of wine. Arizona didn't say much.

"Soooo, how was it?" Teddy asked. "I mean, operating with her?"

"Well, she's a bucket full of flowers. Now can we talk about something else, please?"

"Why is she getting to you like this?"

"I just want some friends, Teddy. You're great, but you're not always around and I neeeeed people" Arizona whined.

"Then pick someone else. It doesn't have to be her, does it?"

"I know. I know. It's just…she seems to have a hard shell, and that is a challenge, and I like a challenge.

I just want to win her over with my magic dimples." Arizona made sure to put some extra magic into her dimples for Teddy to see.

"Alright, alright, then make her be your friend." Teddy held her hands up in surrender. "It could take a while to get her to loosen up though"

"I've got time, Teddy. I've got all that time that you chose to spend with Henry instead of me" Arizona winked at her friend. "Now tell me how that's going!"

The two friends engaged in lose chatter about Teddy's date with Henry then moved on to the subject of Arizona's living situation. So far she'd been subletting a studio apartment, but that was only temporary, and she needed to find something else soon as her lease was only for a couple of months.

"Are there no empty one-bedroom apartments left in this city?" Arizona growled. She was tired of looking at listings, and had had no luck posting on the hospital message board. She wasn't interested in sharing a frat apartment with a bunch of messy interns and she wanted to live close to the hospital.

"I know where you can find one" a voice behind the bar said.

Arizona turned around and faced the bartender. "Really?"

"Yeah. Joe and I own the building across the street from here. We rent out the apartments. Mostly to doctors from the hospital, but there's also a couple of other people in there. One of the tenants died and we just finished renovating the place. You work at the hospital, right?"

Arizona was taken aback by this luck that seemed to have fallen into her lap, so she didn't react until Teddy shoved her with an elbow.

"Oh, yes, Arizona Robbins. I'm the head of the pediatric department at Seattle Grace" She stuck out her hand and shook the bartender's.

"Great" the man behind the bar said. "It's a one-bedroom. Not very big, but it has windows out towards the small park on Pacific Street. Would you like to see it?"

"YES!" Arizona yelped a little too enthusiastically.

The bartender laughed "Great! How about Sunday morning? 10 o'clock?"

"That sounds awesome!" the blonde responded and looked at Teddy with a big smile.

Having exchanged information with the bartender, Arizona left Teddy at the bar. Henry had arrived and Arizona had finally been introduced to him. After one drink however Arizona wanted to leave the two love birds alone, and she needed some good, long sleep, so she headed home.

The last thing she thought about before falling asleep was how she was going to make Callie Torres her friend.

The next day was slow. Arizona only had one surgery and she finished that before 9 o'clock. So she decided to wander around a bit and get to know the place a little bit better.

She started in the NICU and worked her way through different departments until she reached ortho.

She saw Callie leaning against the nurses' station. The latina looked radiant. She was in her lab coat, and this was the first time Arizona saw the brunette without her red scrub cap on in the hospital. Her long dark hair falling over her shoulders.

Arizona decided to choose a new tactic. The dimples had not worked, so now she was just going to try to have a small conversation with doctor Torres. And maybe, MAYBE ask her to have a coffee with her. As colleagues.

She approached the latina who seemed deep in thought, examining some lab results.

"So, Calliope…" Arizona started.

"Please don't call me Calliope" Callie was standing with her back to the blonde.

"Why?"

"I don't like it" Callie turned around facing Arizona.

"Why don't you like it?"

Callie was getting annoyed now. She looked around and then leaned in towards Arizona. "Please. Just. Call. Me. Callie" she stated in a firm but low voice. She looked around again, turned her back to Arizona and walked away.

It was all Arizona could do from fainting. Callie's perfume had her mesmerized. 'I just want her as a friend, I just want her as a friend' Arizona had to chant in her head.

"I grew up with the name Arizona. You don't scare me, Calliope" she whispered to herself.

Later that day Arizona walked into the hospital cafeteria to have lunch. She spotted Teddy having lunch with Henry and figured her friend probably wanted some alone time with him, so she instead walked over to a table with a bigger crowd. A few faces she recognized from being introduced by the chief on her first day.

"Can I sit with you guys?" Arizona sat down next to them without waiting for an answer.

"Being that I'm new here, and I don't have anyone to eat lunch with, I thought I'd go directly for the cool kids' table" she said and put her dimples on full display.

Everyone at the table looked at her like she had trespassed. Except for Owen Hunt who was a trauma doctor that had just gotten back to Seattle after spending a year in Iraq.

"Be nice to the new kid, guys" he said.

Meredith Grey and Cristina Yang, two young doctors, mumbled a 'hi' and couple of interns didn't dare say anything.

Doctor Hunt chuckled. "As you can tell, we really like new people around here. I hope you feel welcome"

"Very much" Arizona laughed out loud.

A couple of tables away were Mark and Callie seated. At the sound of Arizona's laugh, Callie looked up.

"Is that the new head of peds? The talented Robbins from Boston?" Mark asked.

"Yes, and she is annoyingly perky. She has butterflies on her scrub cap and…and…she calls me _Calliope_"

"I think she's pretty hot" Mark said without taking his eyes away from Arizona.

"Come on, Mark! When did you ever like perky?"

"I like what's underneath the perkiness" He winked at Callie. "I bet she's naughty in bed"

Callie sighed and rubbed her forehead. She felt a headache coming on, and she was not in the mood for Mark's overtly sexual comments.

"Then go for it" she said and got up to leave. "She'll probably call you Markus just like your mom does though, so be prepared for that".

"She can call me anything she wants" he smirked.

"Jeeesus" Callie rolled her eyes and started walking away. The last thing she heard was "'Jesus' is a bit much, but 'Markus' would be okay". He laughed at his own joke.

Callie went to the nurses' station to pick up some case files and while she was standing there flipping through some lab results wondering whether Advil would be able to relieve her of this horrible headache, Arizona walked up to the station.

"Coffee?"

Callie looked up to see the perky blonde stand there with two cups of deliciously smelling coffees.

"What?"

"You sound like you're not used to people talking to you"

"I'm not"

"Well, you look like you could use some coffee, so here you go" She handed Callie one of the coffees "And I wanted to say thank you for your help with the surgery yesterday" And just like that the blonde walked away.

One of the ortho nurses, Mandy, walked up behind Callie "Who was that?"

"New head of peds" Callie didn't look up from the paper work.

"She's…"

"Annoyingly happy?"

"I was going to say 'sweet', doctor Torres"

Callie rolled her eyes. This day just kept getting longer and longer. She needed some relief. And not just the kind Advil would give her.

She looked around. A few nurses were standing by the station going over some files and two interns were on their knees cleaning something they spilled off the floor. Callie didn't know what they had spilled and she was pretty sure she didn't want to know either.

In the corner, leaning against the wall and reading a medical review was doctor Karev, a young and handsome guy who seemed pretty no-nonsense. Callie had spoken to him on a few occasions and knew that he had this special way around the young female employees. She was pretty sure he sometimes took some of them to on call rooms and had some 'alone time' with them.

Callie sighed. She was being pitiful and she knew it. So she decided to go and have something sugary in the cafeteria instead, but as she turned around to leave, the urge got the better of her. "Goddammit" she said under her breath and turned around towards Karev.

"Karev?"

He looked up from the magazine.

"Yeah?"

"Come with me"

He didn't question where they were going, and as they rounded the corner and he could tell that she was headed for the door to the on call room, he smiled to himself.

Callie opened the door and let him enter the room first. She followed and closed the door behind them. While standing with her back to him she sighed and then turned around. Biting her lower lip.

They stood there for a few seconds. Staring at each other.

Then Callie took off her scrub top and threw it on the floor. She wasn't there to make conversation and from the speed with which Karev got undressed, she assumed she had picked the right target for her search of relief. He really was no-nonsense. And he never said much so she knew he wasn't going to run all over the hospital with this story.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

Arizona had been looking for nurse Hanson for well over a half hour. There had been a lot of blood in the OR and the nurse had felt queasy, so Arizona had told her to leave the room and go contemplate her medical career outside of the OR. Now she felt bad for having thrown the nurse out and wanted to check if she was alright.

She had looked in the on call rooms on the first and second floor and was now on her way down the hall towards the one on the third floor. She was in a hurry to get back to her patient and was tired of nurses and interns who seemed like they had chosen this profession without thinking about what it means to work with humans. Humans bleed. And their guts don't look like something pretty you'd see on instagram. And now she had to waste precious time finding this woman.

She barged into the on call room but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw who was in there. And what they were doing.

Sitting on a table was Callie, only wearing a bra. A black lace bra. Her legs were spread and lifted up a little by the naked person who was standing in between them.

Arizona was paralyzed. Paralyzed by the situation. And by the glistening of sweat on Callie's caramel colored body. Obviously the pair were having sex.

The guy whom Arizona recognized to be doctor Karev had stopped his movements and looked at Arizona. He seemed unfazed by her presence. And when Arizona's chocked eyes moved from his to Callie's, she saw it; Callie's surrender. Her eyes were dark and full of lust and she too seemed like Arizona's presence did nothing to disturb what was going on.

"I…I…" Arizona stuttered and then turned and ran out, slamming the door shut behind.

"Shit shit shit" she said to herself while running down the hall. She ended up in the staff lounge and ran to the window which she opened in frenzy. As soon as she could feel the cool Seattle air being drawn into her lungs, her heart rhythm slowed down a bit.

"Oh. My. God" she whispered.

"Rough day, Robbins?" a voice behind her said.

Arizona was startled and turned around to see Mark sitting on a couch with a cup of coffee and a magazine in hand. Of course Callie's best friend would be sitting here when all the blonde really needed was to be alone.

"Like you wouldn't believe!" she said and slumped down on the couch opposite of him. "Mark Sloan, plastic, right?"

"Right" he simply said. He had an arrogant air about him that Arizona assumed he got from being able to build perfect bodies. But he also seemed soft.

They were both silent for a while, studying each other. Mark squinted his eyes and said "I feel like you want Callie"

Arizona nearly swallowed her tongue.

"What…what…what do you mean?"

"You want her?"

"I…I'm not sure what you're talking about?"

"You want her as your steady connection to ortho. You know, to avoid doctor Milton. It's pretty obvious that you're trying to make friends with her.

Arizona took a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, well, she's good. Very good. And I like to give the little humans the best."

"Then she's the one" he said.

"Let me give you a word of advice; stop trying so hard. She likes happy. Just not all the time. And you're a bit too much for her I think. Bring her in for some good surgeries and don't talk to her about puppies and roses. Talk to her about work. And… Actually, just talk to her about work"

Mark got up and shrugged her shoulders. "She's wonderful. Really" Then he left the room.

"Everybody keeps saying that" Arizona said to herself and rolled her eyes.

She got up, handed her last patient and her last surgery of the day over to a peds colleague and headed home. Away from on call rooms.

Back at the studio apartment she let herself fall unto the couch and grunted.

What a day.

And then. Then the image of Callie entered her mind. Callie on a table wearing close to nothing. Callie lifting her legs up. Callie…

"Shit!"

Trying for Callie to JUST be a friend was obviously not going to be easy.


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

A day passed.

It was late, and Arizona was about ready to head out of the hospital after an excruciatingly long day. She was TIRED. It wasn't just surgery that had removed her of all energy. Trying to stay away from the ortho department and getting nurses to page everybody but Callie when Arizona needed an ortho consult was pretty drenching. Now all she wanted to do was go home, take off her clothes and lower herself into a bathtub full of hot, hot lavender smelling water.

She rounded the corner on her way out of the peds department and bumped directly into the person she was least hoping to see. Callie.

Callie who had occupied her mind for all of 28 hours. Callie who now simply looked at Arizona with curiosity.

Arizona looked shocked and opened her mouth to say something. But it took a few seconds before she managed to get words out, and when they came they were fast paced.

"God, Calliope, I'm SO sorry about yesterday! The door was unlocked and I was looking for nurse Hanson, and Billy the cleaning guy said he thought he saw her go into the on call room and I didn't know you guys were in there…otherwise I would have never…and I'm just so sorry" Arizona rambled.

"It's okay. Don't worry" Callie was a bit proud that she had shaken Arizona so. Callie was never one to be ashamed of wanting sex, and she certainly wasn't ashamed of her body. And the fact that Arizona acted so…so…she didn't quite know what. Flustered maybe? She felt like it finally gave her somewhat of an upper hand with the blonde. There was now less perkiness.

"Really, I'm very sorry!"

"No sweat" Callie simply said and shrugged her shoulders as she walked on past Arizona.

Arizona was stunned. No 'You could have knocked!' or 'I'll kill you if you tell anyone'?

She was flabbergasted but somehow found her way to Teddy's office where she told Teddy everything that had happened.

"Teddy, she didn't even act like she had been caught. She was fiiiine. Completely calm. Like people walking in on her having sex is something that happens every day."

"Well, she obviously enjoys sex, and she's a doctor which means she doesn't have much time to do it anywhere else, so she does it in an on call room. I guess she just doesn't think there's anything to be embarrassed about"

"Wouldn't you be embarrassed?"

"Are you kidding me? I'd rather die than having anyone see me in a…position like that. I would have probably even apologized for not locking the door"

"Me too"

They both laughed.

"So, did you like what you saw?" Teddy wiggled her eyebrows at Arizona.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, hot doctor Torres in a compromising position. Almost naked. Did it give you anything for your, what is it the guys call it, 'spank bank'?"

"TEDDY!"

They both giggled. Arizona got up. She was now determined to leave the hospital without running into anyone. She just wanted to go home.

But the studio apartment didn't really feel like home, so instead of having a cozy night in front of the TV, she went straight to bed.

She couldn't fall asleep though. There was this image floating around in her head. An image of sweat on Callie's body and the look in the brunette's eyes, that Arizona just couldn't shake.

She turned from side to side a few times, and ended up on her back, staring at the ceiling.

The latina. The sexy, sexy latina had messed with her head, and now Arizona's hand was working its way towards her warm center. The blonde was turned on, and there was nothing she could do to hold herself back.

She let two fingers run along her folds, playing with herself a little before she gathered some of the moisture that was now starting to appear. She then directed her wet fingers toward her throbbing clit. She made contact and felt a jolt of pleasure shoot through her. "Shit" she hissed and pulled her legs up a little bit. It had been a while since she had masturbated, and she hadn't had sex since she arrived in Seattle a month ago. She needed this.

She wiggled under her own touch and applied more pressure to her center while moving her fingers at a steady pace until everything in her head exploded in a mixture of black dots and images of Callie on that damn table.

When she came down from her high she smiled. "Spank bank" she said and giggled to herself.


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

Sunday morning at 10 o'clock Arizona was standing in front of the apartment building where she was hoping to find her next home. She followed the bartender, Nick, up the stairs and into the apartment.

He had said it was kind of small, but by her standards it was perfect. Lots of light, an open kitchen-living room and a bath tub! Not to mention the fact that the hospital was – literally – right across the street.

She signed the lease right away.

The next few days were spent working at the hospital and on getting her stuff shipped from Boston where she had left it in storage.

Thursday afternoon Arizona was in surgery working on fixing a compound fracture on the upper arm of a 12-year-old. Callie was there too. Arizona had paged her, and Callie had entered the OR saying "I've been stuck with a hip replacement all morning. Please give me something good." She took one look at the x-ray on the wall, felt the arm of the youngster, and nodded in approval. Arizona took a sigh of relief. She was gonna do what Mark advised her to do. Keep everything about work.

"Monkey bar injury" the blonde said while preparing to cut open the arm. She didn't look at Callie. "I once worked on this greenstick fracture on a 5-year-old in Boston, and we couldn't figure out why the bone wouldn't heal right. First we didn't do much but set it back in place and cast it up. It didn't heal right, so we had to open the boy up and set the bone with rods" Arizona could feel that Callie had now taken an interest, so she kept talking "The boy came back in and everything had gone crooked again."

"Violent parents?" Callie asked while obviously trying not to show too much interest.

"Nope" Arizona answered "The boy had the craziest pain tolerance. We had talked about it when he first came in. I mean, he didn't cry or anything even though he'd broken a bone, but we didn't think much about it, and then it turns out that every time we set the bone right, he goes home and swings from a monkey bar for hours. Doesn't feel any pain"

"Oh" Callie said and furrowed her brow "Did I read about this kid in the American Journal of Medicine? The Bone Boy?"

"Maybe" Finally! A conversation was happening! "I know they brought him in for pain tests but I don't know if he went on to become a celebrity because of it"

Arizona was almost giddy. And she was racking her brain trying to find other stories from her time in Boston that might interest Callie. And then all of a sudden she was interrupted.

A nurse stepped into the OR and said "Doctor Robbins, some guy from 'The Boston Moving Company' called. He wanted me to tell you that they've arrived with your belongings"

"Shit! Really? Now? Goddammit" Arizona stepped back from the table, pulled off her gloves and said to Karev "Can you take over please?" and then under her breath "'Finest service in the country' my ass. Can't even call to let me know they're on their way"

"Wait, you curse?" Callie had been looking at Arizona in surprise for the last couple of seconds.

"What?" Arizona was a little confused.

"I thought you were all sunshine and rainbows?" Callie smiled at her for – what Arizona was sure was – the first time ever.

"Uh, yeah, well a truck load of stuff just arrived at my doorstep, and no one warned me, and I'm here, so yeah, now I curse" She didn't really have the energy to smile back at Callie, but she took Callie's smile with her. She thought it would be good to save it in her mind for days where Callie was less…approachable.

She left the OR and bolted for her apartment.


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

After all Arizona's belonging had been carried up and into her apartment, Arizona sat on a couch cushion on the floor looking around at the chaos that now surrounded her.

Teddy arrived with a bottle of wine, and they had pizza on the floor of Arizona's new home while chatting about the events of the week.

"How will I ever find the time to get everything in order in here?" Arizona sighed.

"Don't you have a couple of days of next week?" Teddy asked with her mouth full of pizza.

"You're right. I'll just leave it till then. But I gotta find some sheets and my pillow" she said, got up, and started going through some boxes.

"I think that's my queue to leave" Teddy said and got up too "Besides, I have a hot date with Henry tomorrow, so I need my beauty sleep" She hugged her friend and left the apartment.

Arizona wasn't that tired, and she felt like ice cream, so she put on her jacket and walked a block to the mini mart where she bought a pint of Ben and Jerry's. New York Super Chunk Fudge.

When she was back in front of the door to her new apartment and just about to unlock the door, she heard someone approaching from the stairs.

Arizona looked up and saw Callie walking in her direction. Callie hadn't seen the blonde yet because she was looking at her cell phone.

"Calliope?" Arizona said in surprise.

Callie's head shot up and she narrowed her eyes when she saw the blonde.

"Callie, actually" the brunette retorted "What are you doing here?"

"I live here" the blonde said.

"You live here?"

"Yes" Arizona lifted her keys for Callie to see as if to show some kind of evidence that she had the right to be there.

"Since when?" Callie sounded like she didn't believe the blonde.

"Since today" Arizona opened the door to her apartment and pointed inside.

Callie leaned forward to look in and saw the mountains of boxes and furniture.

"Oh" was all she said.

And then they just stood there for a bit, looking at each other.

"Well, I should probably..." Callie said and pointed towards the stairs.

"Do you want some ice cream?" Arizona blurted out. She took the pint of ice cream out of the bag and waved it at Callie. "It's good stuff" she said. "Plus you never got to tell me what you had read about 'The Bone Boy'."

Callie thought for a second. There was something about this blonde. Initially she had really annoyed Callie. But she was pretty persistent. Mark had even mentioned that just maybe Callie needed to loosen up a little bit and try to make some friends around the hospital. He was afraid she was isolating herself. She had argued that she didn't really like other people that much, but still his words had rung true in her mind. She needed friends. And maybe this perky doctor wasn't as bad as Callie thought.

She looked through the door at all the moving boxes again and said "Uh...okay"

Arizona had never in a million years thought Callie would say yes, and when they entered the apartment she realized that she had no seating to offer the guest. And that she would have to do some digging to find bowls and spoons for the ice cream.

"Uh...sorry about the arrangement here" she said. Callie was standing in the middle of the room with her hands in her pockets. The brunette looked around and Arizona got suddenly nervous while she was digging frantically through boxes looking for utensils. She wanted to ease the mood so she decided to jump for funny "I was going for this new decoration style called 'shell chock'. It's where they just take all your belongings and drop them randomly around your space".

Callie laughed. 'Good' Arizona thought.

"Don't laugh. I paid a lot of money for this" Arizona laughed now as well. "You can sit on one of those cushions over there" The blonde pointed towards the floor at the other end of the room.

"It's a little bit like camping" Arizona said and silently thanked the heavens when she finally found two bowls and some spoons.

"I don't really camp" Callie said, but she still took off her black high heeled boots and sat down.

Arizona chuckled and served the latina a bowl of ice cream.

"Thanks" Callie said. She watched the blonde carefully as Arizona got another cushion and sat down.

She couldn't really figure out what to make of this blonde.

Mark was right, Arizona was a beautiful woman, and she was great at her job. Callie had seen Arizona dressed as superman in the children's cancer ward and somehow it had melted her heart a little. She loved ortho and she wouldn't want to work in any other specialty, but she was sure working in peds gave a whole different daily satisfaction than she ever experienced in ortho. Maybe she'd ask Arizona about this some time.

When Callie came out of her thoughts, she realized Arizona was looking at her. The blonde looked like she was wainting for Callie to respond.

"Sorry, did you say something?" Callie asked.

"Yeah, I asked you which apartment you live in" the blonde answered.

"Oh...uh...5th floor, number 519. I'm a couple of doors down from Yang and Grey"

"They live here too?"

"Yeah. They have a real frat house situation going on there. Constant parties. Loud music at all hours. They're crazy."

Arizona detected a small smile on Callie's lips and she smiled herself. This was not bad.

They ate the ice cream in silence. When they were done Callie let Arizona in on some of the quirks of the rest of the people living in the building.

It was nice. Relaxing even. And Arizona felt a stint of regret when Callie got up to leave.

"Well, I'll leave you to decide if you want to stick with this wonderful decor" Callie said while getting up. She was trying to hide it, but Arizona could tell that there was mirth in the brunette's eyes.

"What a minute. Was that a joke, Calliope?" Arizona all of a sudden found some courage and decided to challenge the latina a little bit. The blonde laughed and Callie gave her a smile. A crooked smile but a smile nontheless.

"I know, it's _Callie_" Arizona said and put her hands up in surrender.

Callie just chuckled and shook her head.

"Thank you for the ice cream, Arizona. See you tomorrow for the Bronson kid amputation?"

"You bet!" Arizona walked Callie to the door. The brunette gave her a small wave before she walked down the hall and up the stairs to her own apartment.

Arizona closed the door quietly, leaned against it, closed her eyes and smiled to herself. 'Not bad. Not bad'.


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

The next morning Callie found herself cornered by Cristina Yang, Meredith Grey, and Mark Sloan.

"You want to do what?" Callie looked at Cristina Yang and Meredith Grey incredulously. Mark was standing behind the two doctors giving Callie a pleading look.

"We want to have a building party. Instead of a block party, we'll just invite everybody from the building. Everybody brings drinks, and we have fun. Our place is too small though, so we thought that maybeee we could use yours. What do you say?"

"I say no" Callie deadpanned.

"Caaaalllieeee, please, come on!" Mark pouted. "I need a party. And I need you there. You're my person"

"Mark, I don't want to babysit you until you find someone to hunt and then I get left behind, alone, when you go off to have sex"

"I promise I won't leave you. I prooooomise, Callie, pleeaaase!"

Callie sighed and slumped her shoulder. "Okay"

"YES!" the two young doctors and Mark said in unison.

"And when is this horrible gathering gonna take place?" Callie asked. She was not amused.

"Saturday" Mark threw her his best smile and slapped her ass lightly "It will be fun, Torres. Walk tall now, you hear!"

Callie sighed again.

After lunch Callie scrubbed in and entered OR 3. Arizona and her were going to amputate the leg of an unfortunate 10-year-old who had hurt his limb so badly in a skiing accident that there was now nothing to do but to take it off.

Callie was early, and Arizona was the only one in the OR when the brunette arrived.

Arizona was standing with the back to the door when the latina entered.

"Hi" Callie said.

"Uh...hi" Arizona said.

Callie sensed that something was up.

"You okay?" she asked the blonde. She wasn't sure what she was going to do or say if Arizona said 'no'.

"Uh...yeah...I'm okay" The blonde turned around slowly and Callie could see sadness in her eyes. "I just...I just never get used to taking their limbs, you know. I...I just need a moment" she said.

Callie didn't really know what to say. Here was this sweet, sweet doctor in front of her. A doctor who cared so much that she came to the OR early to prepare mentally for a surgery that was going to change the life of the boy drastically. And Callie didn't know what to say.

She finally took a deep breath and reached deep down for the pool of goodness that somehow yesterday's ice cream at Arizona's had opened.

"He'll be fine. He's so young. Do you know how good I am with artificial body parts? I'm gonna help him get a prosthetic leg that's better than his original one. He'll be doing triathlons. Competitively. I promise" Callie was being sincere, and somehow Callie's promise was so innocent and sweet that it made Arizona's heart quiver. She looked at the brunette and all she could say was "Thank you, Calliope".

They looked at each other for a few seconds before the door to the OR opened and the rest of the surgery team came in.

Arizona gave Callie a small smile and nodded as if to say 'I'm ready'.

None of them said anything during the surgery, and it wasn't till they had both scrubbed out and were walking down the hall that Callie finally spoke.

"So, the crazies are having a party on Saturday. It's a party for the whole building actually. And they've decided to use my place for it. You wanna come?"

She was looking at Arizona expectantly which gave the blonde a rush of blood to the head.

"Yeah...sure...I have a late shift though, but if you guys are still up by the time I get off, I'll definitely stop by"

"Great" Callie stopped walking and Arizona turned to look at her questioningly.

"Now go tell the parents about all the great things he'll be able to do - including skiing. I'll get started on ordering that leg" Callie said the words very matter-of-factly and turned without waiting for an answer from Arizona.

The blonde chuckled and somehow felt a little more confident when approaching the waiting parents.


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

Saturday night rolled around and Arizona didn't scrub out of her last surgery before 10:30. She hurried home and took a quick shower. She could hear the music and the loud talking coming from upstairs which made her happy. The party was not over yet.

She put on a figure hugging blue dress that went well with her blue eyes, some silver heels, and she opted to let her blonde curls hang naturally and loose. She quickly applied make-up and made her way to Callie's apartment.

She rang the bell a few times before anyone heard her over the music. It was Cristina Yang who opened the door.

"Rainbow Robbins!" She yelled and gave Arizona a big tequila-induced hug. Then she turned around and left the blonde on the door step to go dance with Meredith.

Arizona closed the door behind her and just stood there for a moment. She took in the place. It was packed. People – most of them people she recognized from the hospital – everywhere.

Callie's place was big. And very nice. She had good taste. And the lay-out of the place was perfect for a party like this. The kitchen-living room area was big and opened up onto a large balcony.

The blonde looked around and finally saw Teddy who was waving at her from the other end of the room.

"Heeeeey" the cardio doctor said when Arizona approached and gave her a big hug.

"Hi friendo!"

"How was work?" Teddy asked.

"Brutal! While all of you were here partying, I was trying to keep the whole damn hospital running" Arizona said "I need a drink!"

"Well, drinks we have" Teddy laughed "LOOOOOTS of drinks" Arizona's friend seemed a little off balance.

Arizona laughed "Sure anything is left? You seem like you've had plenty?"

Arizona didn't get an answer. Teddy got up on a chair and yelled "TEQUILA!". The crowd answered her with a wild roar.

Arizona chuckled and wondered if anyone in the apartment was still slightly coherent. And before she could look around, she got her answer.

"You made it?"

Arizona got goosebumps when she heard the voice behind her. She turned around and looked at Callie.

Arizona swallowed hard. Callie was wearing a tight black dress and had her dark hair tied in a loose braid running down along one side of her neck. She looked radiant. And she was smiling.

"Yeah. There were moments though when I considered to page you all in for a natural disaster. Just because I was jealous that you guys were here and I was...well, there. But I survived, and now I could really use a drink."

"I'll get you one" Callie said "Beer, wine, tequila?"

"Beer, please"

Callie turned and walked through the crowd towards the kitchen.

Arizona caught herself staring at the latina's ass. 'Just friends, just friends, just friends' she reminded herself.

Callie soon returned with a beer for Arizona. The brunette had brought a shot of tequila and a beer for herself. She downed the shot and lifted the beer up for a toast.

"To the crazies" she said.

Arizona laughed "To the crazies! How did they talk you into this?"

"Actually Mark talked me into this. He promised he'd keep me company and not leave early with some random woman"

"Let me guess, he left a long time ago?"

"I think he was here for all of 20 minutes. That manwhore!"

They both laughed. Then they both looked at the crowd for a while, Callies hips swaying to the music not going unnoticed by Arizona.

"You drink tequila like a pro" she finally said.

"Well, what can I say, it's my heritage" Callie winked at Arizona. And Arizona's body went numb. The latina winked at her, and Arizona knew instantly that NOT falling crazily in love with this woman would be harder than getting through med school.

"Sooooo, you and Karev?" Arizona ventured.

"What about me and Karev?"

"Are you guys a coup...are you together?"

"Yeah, didn't you hear? - we're getting married"

Arizona looked at Callie with a confused look.

"Just kidding! Did you really think I'd marry that little baby" Callie laughed, and it was a liberating laughter that made Arizona warm and tingly all over.

Arizona took a chance to keep the joke going "What do I know about you Catholic latinas and your mating habits" She took a drink of her beer.

Callie stopped laughing and looked at Arizona in surprise.

Arizona swallowed. She didn't know if she'd gone too far.

Callie blinked. And then she showed a megawatt smile that quickly turned into another round of laughter. Arizona felt a wave of relief.

"You're alright, Arizona. You're alright" Callie said and clinked her beer against Arizona's. "Friends?"

"Friends" Arizona said and threw the brunette a dimpled smile.

The party continued until about 3 o'clock. People were slowly starting to leave, and in the end it was a sleeping Teddy, Callie and Arizona, and a small group of young doctors.

Callie and Arizona were sitting on the balcony. They had been eavesdropping on the young doctors' conversation and laughing their way through the evening.

Pretty soon the group in the living room got up to leave, and Arizona did the same. It was now just her, Callie, and Teddy left. The cardio surgeon was passed out on the couch, and Arizona had real difficulties waking her up.

"Just leave her" Callie said "It's fine. I'll send her to you when she wakes up and starts throwing up tomorrow though"

Arizona snorted a laugh which in return made Callie laugh.

"That's a deal" the blonde said. She picked up purse and walked towards the door. Before she left she turned around to look at Callie who had loosened the braid and taken off her heels. She looked sligthly disarmed which was inviting.

"Thanks for a great night, Calliope" Arizona said.

"What will it take for you to stop calling me Calliope?" Callie asked in a serious voice. She was smiling though.

"Well, now that we're friends I'll probably keep calling you Calliope"

"I thought as much" Callie said and shook her head in mock surrender "Goodnight Phoenix"

"Oh, I see what you're doing there," Arizona said in an amused tone while walking out of the apartment "but there is no name you can call me that I haven't already heard in the school yard. You see, they may call me Rainbow Robbins, but they'll see. I'm more than that. And I fight back. Goodnight, Calliope". The blonde smiled, turned around and walked away.

Calliope chuckled and closed the door behind her.

The night had been good. Really good. And Mark disappearing had really turned out for the best.


	11. Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

The next few weeks flew by. Arizona got her place in order and started feeling at home. Work was busy, and she hardly had time to see Teddy. Also, she only saw Callie twice, at meetings, and they hadn't really had time to exchange anything but pleasantries. For ortho cases she had been stuck with the grumpy doctor Milton.

Now it was Friday night though, and Arizona was looking forward to a quiet night in her office. She was going to try to catch up on some paper work, so she closed the door and sat down at her desk.

She picked up a case file but it didn't take long before she put it down again.

She thought about Callie. The last few weeks she had thought about her quite a lot, which made it hard to concentrate. Most nights the image of an almost naked Callie haunted her. She tried to ignore it whenever she could, but sometimes, the thought of the latina turned her on so much that she could barely function.

All of a sudden there was a knock on her door.

"Come in" she said, expecting Teddy. But through the door came the latina.

"Heeeey" Arizona said in an overtly exited voice, trying to conceal what she was trying to clear her thoughts of.

"Hi" Callie said "You hungry? I've brought some food"

"Oh God, yes" Arizona said "I haven't eaten all day".

She got up and helped the latina set up the cartons of Chinese food. They worked in silence and none of them said anything until they sat down to eat the food.

"It's been forever since the party" Arizona managed to get out between the pieces of chicken and noodles she was hastily showing into her mouth.

"I know. It's been crazy. How have you been?"

"Good, but God, I need a vacation!"

Callie laughed "Don't we all! I'm not gonna lie, I could use some sex too"

Arizona nearly choked on the chicken and coughed.

"Sorry! Too much information?" Callie apologized.

"No, no, not at all, we're friends, remember?" Arizona laughed "I just wasn't prepared for that"

Callie smiled shyly. "Sorry, I'm used to hanging out with mark so much, I don't always censor what comes out of my mouth"

"It's fine, really, Calliope" Arizona was trying to keep herself together. 'Naked Callie, naked Callie' versus 'Just friends, just friends'. "Are you two very close?"

"Yeah, well, we used to come to each other for...for..." Callie hesitated.

"Help tying your shoes?" Arizona tilted her head.

Callie snorted "Right!"

Arizona laughed.

"And now?"

"Now we tell each other everything. He's like a brother to me. I mean, we look after each other like siblings would. It's good. That kind of family is good to have"

"Where does you family live?" Arizona was trying to hold back the questions, but it wasn't working for her. She wanted to know much more about the latina.

"They live in Miami. I grew up there and they're still there. My sister Aria lives down the street from my parents. Family dinners on Sundays. Big Christmases. That kind of thing"

"Sounds nice"

"Or suffocating... I miss it sometimes though" Callie was now picking at her food. "How about you?"

"My parents live in Iowa. They're farmers. I have three brothers who are also farmers, and they all live pretty close to each other. No Sunday dinners, but they do see each other very often. I visit a few times a year and I love it!"

Callie nodded. She wanted to tell Arizona that she hadn't been home for years, but decided she didn't want to share that in that moment.

Before Arizona got the chance to ask any more questions, Teddy came barging through the door.

"Oh sorry!" She looked from Arizona to Callie and back to Arizona.

"It's okay" Arizona said "You look like it's an emergency?"

"Not really, I just needed your opinion on something" Teddy said.

"Okay?" Arizona looked at Teddy expectantly.

Teddy looked at Callie again and then back at Arizona with wonder.

"Oh" Callie said and hurried out of her chair "I think this is when I get out of here so you guys can talk about that something". Truth be told Callie was happy to get out. Family wasn't her favorite subject.

After Callie left, Teddy let herself fall into the chair opposite Arizona.

"What's up?" The blonde asked her friend.

"We're never gonna have sex" the cardio surgeon sighed.

"What? Still no luck?"

"I'm telling you, Arizona, that man must be gay. I put on the sexiest outfit. We dance like mating monkeys all night. We go back to my place, and he just kisses me goodnight and goes home! What's wrong with me? Or him?"

"He's not gay, Teddy. But maybe he's a virgin" Arizona laughed earning her a stinky look from Teddy. "Just tell him you want to have sex already! How hard can it be?!"

"I don't know. Did you tell Callie that you want to have sex with her?" Teddy smirked.

"No, because I don't want to have sex with her. We're becoming friends. Didn't you just walk in on the most innocent little meal and conversation you've ever seen?"

"You think about her naked?"

"Nope"

"You sure?"

"Yes"

"Right, you are, Robbins"

"Shut up Teddy, and go ask your boyfriend for some action instead of teasing me. I have work to do"

"Whatever" Teddy said and got up "Just don't expect any sympathy when she won't give you what you want and YOU'RE all devastated and miserable and sexless"

"Not gonna happen" Arizona said "byyyyyyeee Teddy. Love you!"

"Love you too" Teddy smiled at the blonde and left the room.

Arizona sat for a while, staring a Callie's chop sticks. She picked them up and smelled them. They smelled like curry.

Suddently she realized what she was doing. 'Are you kidding me, Arizona Robbins!? You're smelling her chop sticks for fucks sake. Get it together!'

Arizona needed to get her thoughts straight. And the only way she could do that was by burying herself in work. She picked up a case file and started reading.


	12. Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

The following week Arizona found herself eating lunch with Callie and Mark almost every day.

Teddy was in Washington visiting some relatives so the two friends had taken pity on Arizona and invited her over to 'their' table.

"We don't want you to have to eat lunch with the crazies" Callie said and winked at the blonde.

Arizona laughed "God forbid!"

They had spent a lot of time talking about Marks many conquests.

"You're a manwhore!" Callie said.

"Hey now, look who's talking, Callie" Mark huffed and got up "You're not exactly celibate either, Torres. Now, I have some important surgeries to do. You girls just stay here and continue your little chat"

"You girls?" Arizona said while she watched Mark leave the cafeteria.

Callie laughed.

"Oh, by the way, Mark, Hunt, Yang and I are going out Friday. You wanna come? It's this great Cuban place where they have amazing music and very nice drinks. Perfect for dancing. It's within walking distance of our building"

"Sure. Sounds like fun" Arizona said. In her mind she was imagining what Callie would wear for the night out, and what kind of dancing she would be doing. 'Close it down, Robbins!' was her mind's response to the thoughts.

"Great!" Callie smiled and got up "I gotta go help Mark the Man with a crushed thumb. Yaaaay" the brunette said without any enthusiasm.

"Well have fun, and don't fight with your brother now, you hear!" Arizona gave Callie a serious look, and Callie laughed.

Friday night could not get there fast enough.

It did arrive fast though. Arizona was buried in work all week, and when Friday came she'd been so busy she had almost forgotten that they were going out.

That was until she saw Callie at the nurses' station trying to teach Mandy how to salsa.

Arizona froze. She hid behind the corner and watched what was happening from there. Callie was leading Mandy, and nurse Bailey was looking at the pair. Mandy kept messing it up, making Callie laugh. Arizona's eyes were focused on Callie's hips though. Jesus! The blonde wasn't sure she'd be able to handle a whole night of Callie moving like that on a dance floor, and was starting to regret not having suggested they go to Joe's instead.

"See anything you like?"

Mark's voice startled her and she instantly felt like she'd been caught. He'd been standing behind her for god knows how long. When she turned around to look at him he winked at her.

"Yeah...uh...I was just...uh...contemplating whether it's too late to bail on this Cuban thing tonight. I mean uh... I can't dance like that" Arizona stuttered and pointed towards the two dancing women.

"Don't worry" he said and padded her on the back " Callie will do the dancing for all of us. Really, we usually just follow along to witness the miracle of her moves" He winked at her again and then walked over to the three women at the nurses' station. Arizona followed.

"Hi guys" Callie excitedly greeted them. She looked happy "You guys ready for tonight?"

"Yeah...uh...sure" Arizona answered, still a little shaken by all of Mark's winking.

"Great! Well, I'm going home now," the latina said. "but I'll swing by your apartment and pick you up at 8?"

"Perfect" Arizona said without meaning it. Her beeper went off which saved her from further conversation. "It's the pit. I'll see you guys later" she said and ran off.

On her way to the ER she reminded herself 'I can't stare at Callie tonight, I can't stare at Callie tonight, I can't stare at Callie tonight'.


	13. Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

Later, when she was contemplating what to wear, Arizona stood in front of the mirror in her bra and panties.

She'd gained a bit of weight since she arrived in Seattle which was good. She'd been too skinny. She didn't have _curves_ like Callie, but she still looked damn good and tonight she wanted to dress to impress. She didn't know who she wanted to impress, but she wanted to look good.

She put on a red dress that made her ass pop and showed enough cleavage to be fit for a club. She then put on heels that tied around her ankles and lower legs. She chose smoky eyes which - together with her outfit literally - made her look smoking hot.

At exactly 8 she heard a knock on the door. She grabbed her purse and went to open the door. Standing outside was Callie.

"Wow! You look great" Callie looked her up and down "We're gonna have to do our best to keep them off you tonight"

"Keep them off me?" Arizona asked "Who?"

"Everybody at the club" Callie smiled.

Arizona followed her to the elevator. Walking behind the latina she took a good look at the brunette's outfit. She was wearing the same short black dress that she wore at the crazies' party, but her hair was different. Loose. More wild in a way. It fit well with the fact that they were going dancing.

They met Mark, Hunt and Yang in the doorway of the building, and then they walked together to the club.

They could hear the music from far down the street, and Arizona could tell Callie was getting giddy. It made her smile.

The club was packed. And loud. The music was pumping and the drinks were flowing. They all ordered, and while Arizona quickly took a seat at the bar and was joined there by Hunt and Mark. Callie and Yang downed a few tequila shots and went straight for the dance floor.

'Just don't look at her, just don't look at her' Arizona chanted in her mind.

But she couldn't help it. After about 10 minutes she caved and looked out over the dance floor. It didn't take her long to spot Callie. The latina switched between dancing alone and dancing with random people on the floor. Most people did that. And she looked amazing.

Arizona swallowed thickly. 'Callie's skin. Sweat. Naked Callie on a table'

"DAMMIT!" Arizona slammed her beer onto the bar. This was frustrating. Hunt grabbed her arm and mouthed "Are you okay?". The music was too loud to hear anything.

Arizona just nodded and gave him her most reassuring smile. He bought it.

For the next couple of hours - whenever the music wasn't too loud - Arizona engaged in conversations with Hunt and Mark.

She succeeded in not looking at the dancing Callie too much, and was pretty proud of herself. That was until she felt someone tugging at her arm. It was Callie. A hot and sweaty Callie.

"Come dance" Callie managed to say between two songs. She motioned towards the dance floor.

Arizona looked hesitant. She wasn't really in the mood. But then Callie pouted. And the pout broke Arizona completely.

She got up and let herself be dragged onto the dance floor.

Callie immediately started swaying to the beat. She smiled at Arizona who just stood there. Arizona started moving a little bit. She was afraid Callie might grab her again, so she decided to just do what was expected. She danced.

All of a sudden she felt hands on her hips. She stopped in her tracks and looked back over her shoulder. It was a man. A stranger. He smiled at her and told her over the music to not stop because of him. And then he winked at her.

She turned towards Callie who also winked at her. And then she - once again - did what was expected of her. She danced. While a man was grinding up against her.

Callie came closer. She was smiling. She was now almost touching Arizona with her whole body. The dance floor was so crowded that everyone got pushed together.

All of a sudden a man danced up behind Callie. Callie looked at him and it was obvious they knew each other. He grabbed her around the waist and turned her around against him. There was something in the way he touched the brunette. And something in the way she let him.

'Shit' Arizona thought 'I don't want to see this'. Callie's smile. The man's hands on her hips. The other man grinding up against Arizona. The loudness of the music. Arizona couldn't handle it.

She pushed the man behind her away and rushed off the dance floor. She almost ran into the bathroom and found an empty stall. She just stood there for a while, getting her breathing under control.

Then she went to the sink and looked at herself in the mirror. "That's it!" she whispered to herself. "You will get your shit together or you won't be able to spend time with her". And with those words she left the bathroom, found Hunt and Mark by the bar and pretended like nothing had happened.

She looked at the dance floor but couldn't spot Callie.

"She left" Mark then said as if he knew what the blonde was thinking "She left with that guy. He's an old flame"

Arizona nodded. And then she started drinking shots. Lots of shots.


	14. Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14

The days turned into weeks, and Arizona and Callie spent more and more time together.

Teddy was spending most of her free time with Henry, so Arizona welcomed the company of the latina. She even kept the promise she had made to herself and managed to keep her naughty thoughts about Callie to a minimum.

And then one night things changed.

Nurse Bailey's birthday was coming up, and Callie and Teddy really wanted to surprise her. So they arranged a surprise birthday party for the nurse in Callie's apartment. Everybody was supposed to bring food and drinks, and they would play games which was Bailey's favorite party passtime.

The day arrived, and Teddy, Callie, Arizona, Mark, Teddy, Owen Hunt, Cristina yang, Meredith Grey, and Mandy and a bunch of the other nurses were waiting for Bailey to knock on the door. Callie had invited her over for a quiet game night, so the nurse didn't know what was awaiting.

The knock on the door came, and as soon as Callie opened the door, everybody yelled "SURPRISE!". Bailey nearly peed her pants from surprise and happiness. And then the drinking started.

Everybody dug in, and pretty soon the crowd was getting rowdy.

A few hours into the party someone suggested they play truth or dare. Bailey immediately supported the idea, so everybody joined in.

They played a few rounds with innocent questions and slightly boring dares. When it became Callie's turn to ask, she turned to Mark.

"Dear Mark. Truth or dare?" She said with the most sugary voice.

"Truth" he said.

"Okay then, how many women have you slept with in the last month?"

"Now we're finally going somewhere with this game!" Bailey squeeled.

Mark gave Callie a dead stare.

"Come on, Mark, everybody here knows you're a manwhore" Callie laughed "I'm just looking for a ballpark number".

Mark grind his teeth "Around 12 I'd say" he finally admitted causing the crowd to laugh and throw paper napkins at him. Half in fun. Half in jealousy.

And now it was Mark's turn to ask.

"Callie. Truth or dare?"

"You know too much about me, Mark, and I don't want all that information spilled all over this party, so I'm gonna say 'dare'" People laughed.

Mark thought for a second and then he said "Okay, well, Torres, you started this. So now I want you...to kiss...Arizona" He pointed at the blonde. Everybody laughed and started cheering.

Arizona's heart dropped. Her eyes darted around the room to find her bests friends'. Teddy looked at her a mixture of ecxitement and concern.

Callie looked at Mark like she was saying 'Come on, dude!'. He lifted his hands in mock surrender "It's the rules, Callie" he said mockingly.

Callie looked at Arizona. She didn't notice the panic in the blonde's eyes. Then she looked around at the crowd.

People kept cheering like crazy and Yang yelled "Come on, Torres!"

"Okay, okay, okay" Callie said. She looked at Arizona again, closed her eyes, took a deep breath, opened her eyes again and got up on her knees. She was smiling and shaking her head as she crawled across the circle of people to where Arizona was sitting.

Arizona was paralyzed. She contemplated getting up and sprinting out the door, but her body wouldn't let her move. She was just staring at Callie who got closer and closer.

Callie stopped when their faces were a few inches apart. Arizona could feel the latina's warm breath on her face.

"No tongue" Callie said cheekily and then leaned in and closed the distance between them.

Arizona kept her eyes open for the 2-second duration of the kiss. Callie's eyes were closed. 'Why were they closed? Did she enjoy it? Callie's lips. Callie's smile. Callie's breath, Naked Callie. Naked Callie. Naked Callie'.

Arizona's mind exploded in a nuclear bomb of promises she had kept making herself and images of Callie.

Callie pulled back, opened her eyes, smiled at Arizona, and put her arms up in victory while everybody laughed. Arizona felt like she was drowning.

"OKAY, NO MORE KIDS' GAMES!" Yang yelled "IT'S TEQUILA TIME!"

Everybody got off the floor. Except Arizona. She just stayed there, staring out into the air. Nobody noticed though. Except for Teddy who came over and pulled her friend off the floor.

"Get it together, Robbins!" she whispered "Unles you want everybody to find out, snap out of it!"

Arizona swallowed. She went to the kitchen bar with everyone else, but soon found her way into the bathroom. She stood in front of the mirror and stared at herself.

She took a deep breath and poured some water on her face.

"Shit shit shit" she said.

She went back into the party and the last thing she saw before she snuck out was Callie dancing very close with Mark and laughing at some joke the man had made.

When she finally found herself in the safety of her own apartment, she leaned against the inside of her front door and let herself slide unto the floor.

The tears were coming.

"Shit!"


	15. Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

Arizona was hiding.

She was deliberately handing out her surgeries to anyone who would take them. She wanted to crawl into a hole and just stay there for a while.

Her phone beeped. It was a message from Teddy.

**She is asking about you all over the hospital. Tell her!**

Arizona sighed and hid her face in her hands.

She hid in her office until she thought everybody else had had lunch and then she decided to go to the cafeteria to get something to eat.

She was halfway there when she heard Callie's voice coming from down the hall.

"ARIZONA, WAIT UP!"

The brunette came running towards her. Smiling. 'Shit!'

"Hey" Callie said out of breath "You left without saying goodbye Saturday. And you didn't answer my calls. Teddy said you got a migraine?" Callie looked worried.

Arizona was - literally - speechless. The latina was standing close and Arizona swore she could smell that strawberry lipgloss. 'Shit shit shit'.

"Yeah...uhm...I didn't uh...I didn't feel good" the blonde said while walking backwards and away from Callie "I uh...I have surgery" She gave Callie half a wave then turned around and hurried down the hall.

Callie tried to call her twice in the next hour.

Arizona did nothing but stare at her phone.

Later Arizona bumped into Callie and Mark at the coffee cart on the second floor.

Callie opened her mouth to say something but Arizona beat her to it "I just got beeped. The pit. Gotta go" Then the blonde ran off.

Callie looked at Mark and brought her hands up in a questioning gesture.

Mark shrugged.

Arizona kept this up for three whole excruciating days. Every time she met Callie and Callie tried to start a conversation, Arizona backed away and ran.

Thursday night Callie had had enough. Something was going on with Arizona, and the brunette was determined to find out what.

She marched to Arizona's office and went in without knocking. Arizona was standing at the window looking out at the city.

The blonde jumped like a scared animal when the door opened, and looked scared out of her mind when she realized it was Callie.

The brunette closed the door behind her and stood in the middle of the room with her arms crossed.

She looked annoyed.

"Why are you avoiding me, Arizona? Do you have a problem with me?"

Arizona looked into Callie's dark brown eyes and forced herself not to look away. Callie was confused and breathing heavily. She raised her voice.

"I thought we were friends, Arizona?"

"We are". Arizona was whispering.

"Then tell me what's going on?"

Arizona started pacing the room and wringing her hands. She was in deep, deep waters now.

"Arizona?" Callie was now demanding an answer.

Arizona stopped, looked at Callie for a second and then blurted out "I'm gay…" then she started pacing again "uh…which is not important…well, I guess it is important, but maybe…uh…"

"Wait, what? You're gay?" Callie looked even more confused now.

Arizona wanted to keep her momentum going, so she didn't answer but instead started a ramble.

"Okay, so I uh…I…I saw you sitting there on that table, almost naked with Karev between your legs, and….and that look in your eyes, and I…I thought about it A LOT. You. Your legs. Your bra" Arizona motioned up and down Callie "And that look in your eyes. Not him and what he was doing. Just you. It was all I thought about. For a long time. But I finally managed to get it under control. To not think about it or you ALL the time. I even spent half a day in the OR with you last week without thinking about it. And then…then that stupid game happened. And…and…you kissed me. And now I know how your lips feel against mine and how your breath feels against my face…and…and…I…I can't…I can't".

Arizona stopped her pacing and looked up at Callie whose eyes were now flickering like her brain was processing what was happening.

"I can't…" Arizona started again, but she just didn't know what to say. So instead she did what she'd been doing for days. She ran. Down the hall and into the stairwell where she sat for a while, trying to get her breathing under control.


	16. Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

Arizona managed to hide in the lab for the rest of the day. Thankfully she didn't have any surgeries planned.

She was feeling awful.

It had taken a long time to build up this friendship with Callie. A friendship that was still very new by the way. And then she goes and ruins it by not telling the brunette she is gay and by trying to think she could will away her feelings for the latina.

"UGH!" she rested her forehead on her arms on the table.

When her shift was over, she snuck to her office to pick up a bunch of case files that she would bring home and work on. Something to keep her mind busy.

She left the hospital through a side entrance and was thankful that the darkness of the city enclosed her so that she could walk across the parking lot unseen.

Back at her apartment she closed the door quietly and sighed. How was this ever gonna get better?

"Shit"

She picked up her phone and called Teddy.


	17. Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

The next morning Arizona was sitting in her office. She was staring into the air. She was actually only on call and could have stayed at home but she could not stand to be at home without anything to do. She needed to occupy her mind with something. So after she had cleaned her whole apartment she walked across the street to her office and just sat there.

She had called Teddy, but the cardio surgeon was in surgery. There was no one else to call. Because nobody knew about this misery.

A few minutes passed, and then there was a knock on the door.

Arizona knew the lights from her office could be seen through the window at the top of her wall. She couldn't hide her presence so she just said "Come in".

It was Callie. And she looked so, so sad. She stepped into the room, closed the door behind her and then leaned against it. She didn't make eye contact with Arizona.

Arizona's heart was beating so hard that she thought maybe Callie could hear it from where she was standing.

A few seconds passed and then Callie looked up.

"I don't make friends very easily…I mean…I have friends…but I'm the weird kid, and I swear some of the interns are really, really scared of me…but…but…I feel like I've made friends with you, and I like our friendship, and now you're just… I thought we were friends…and this whole time you…" The brunette looked like she was on the brink of tears.

Arizona got out of her chair and walked towards the brunette.

"Callie, I never meant to…" Arizona started and reached out her hand to touch Callie's shoulder.

"You are being unfair!" Callie pulled away from the blonde's touch "How could you tell me all of that and then just run from me? You're…"

"I AM HEARTBROKEN! Do you get that? I. want. you. so. much, and I can't have you. So please. Please just let me be miserable about that" Arizona's eyes were watering. She was hurting, and there was no stopping this train now.

The look in Callie's eyes had now turned dark and hard. There was pain there.

"Jesus, Arizona, if it's sex you want, you can have me. Just take me" Callie's voice was low and her tone was now a bit vile. She untied her wrap-around shirt so the edges fell to the sides and exposed her tanned stomach and a red lace bra. She was just standing there. And tears were starting to stream down her face. Then she whispered in surrender "I don't make friends very easily. So please be my friend."

Arizona swallowed. That fucking lace bra. Those fucking tears.

"Callie, I don't…I'm sorry…I'm…I'm so sorry" Arizona took a quick step forward and grabbed the sides of Callie's shirt. She tied them around Callie's waist, hiding the beauty that was the latina's caramel skin.

The blonde took a step back and sighed. She looked down at the floor and then said "I'll be your friend".


	18. Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

The sound of Arizona's beeper broke the silence that followed Arizona's last words. Both the women jumped at the sound. Callie looked lost and Arizona felt like shit. The beeper saved the blonde from committing to any more friendshippy stuff that she didn't want to commit to. She had said the words, but she didn't – she couldn't – mean them.

Arizona sighed deeply "Coffee later?" she offered. They needed to talk.

Callie nodded and turned to face the wall as Arizona left the room to run to the pit. 'Shit!'.

In the pit Teddy was waiting. As soon as she saw Arizona running towards her she started updating the blonde peds surgeon.

"9-year old girl got stuck underneath a metal storage cabinet. Chest is crushed. We also need Karev"

The cardio surgeon noticed the bewildered look on Arizona's face as the blonde was putting on her surgeon's gown.

"What's wrong? Did you talk to her again?" Teddy asked while they rushed down the hall alongside the gurney carrying the injured girl.

"Yes. We're friends"

Teddy shook her head in disbelief.

"You can't be her friend, Arizona. Not now"

They burst through the doors to the OR, and just like that the conversation was over.

A few hours later Arizona was sitting in the staff lounge. Callie came in. She was carrying two cups of coffee. She gave Arizona one of them and sat down next to the blonde.

"I feel like we have to talk about this" Callie said "but I'm not sure how"

Arizona looked up and into the most soulful eyes she had ever seen.

"We don't have to talk about it. I'm fine if you're fine" Arizona lied.

Callie tippet her head to the side and studied Arizona. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. This weekend was just…I've had a bad couple of weeks. Too much work. Really, I'm fine. And I'm not pining over you. I swear. You just caught me at a bad time."

Lie upon lie upon lie.

Callie looked at Arizona but didn't say anything. She was processing "Okay" she then said.

There was a small pause.

"I can't believe I didn't know you were gay" she finally said.

"Does it matter?"

"That you're gay, no. That I didn't know, yes. Why didn't I know?"

"It just never came up I guess. You and I haven't talked that much about things like that. We mostly talk about what Mark's up to" The two women shared a small smile "I'm not this crazy closeted lesbian. I just know how people gossip in these places, and I wanted you to know other stuff about me before you knew me as 'the lesbian'. Honestly I just wanted to be your friend"

Another lie.

"Can we talk about _that_ though? I mean, if we're gonna be friends I'd like to know more about you"

"You mean if we can talk about our past history?"

"Yeah"

"Sure"

"Great!" Callie smiled and got up. She had surgery.

"Callie?"

"Yes"

"Nothing" Arizona shook her head.

Callie looked at her for a few seconds and then left the room to go work.

When Callie was gone Arizona suddenly felt sick. She rushed to the trash can and threw up her lunch. Standing there, bent over the trash can, she said to herself "You are an asshole, Robbins".


	19. Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19

Next day Callie was having lunch with Mark in the cafeteria. She was pensive and not really listening to his theories on penile dysfunction.

"Are you listening to me?"

"Not really" she said.

"Did you finally figure out why Blondie was acting weird?"

"She's gay, Mark" Callie looked at him like it was a giant revelation.

"Oh, I knew that" he simply said and bit into an apple.

"Wait, what? How did you know?" Callie was confused.

"Because she's been resisting my charm" he smirked.

Callie rolled her eyes at him "Seriously, how did you know?"

"Well, I overheard her and Teddy talk about you and Karev and the dirty things you did in the on call room"

"Why didn't you tell me this?"

"I thought you would find out eventually. Besides, I didn't know if she wanted to be private about it"

"Oh come on, Mark! You are the biggest gossip in this hospital and I am supposed to be your best friend. You could have told me. Then atleast I would have been prepared"

"For what?"

Callie looked at Mark and contemplated whether or not she should say anything.

"She had a crush on me. I guess she doesn't anymore or whatever. But your little game change Saturday night…it…uh…it _did_ something I guess.

"Make her wet?" Mark wiggled his eyebrows.

"Please!"

"Could you at least just have sex with her and come back and tell me about it?"

"You are disgusting!" Callie started packing up her lunch to get away from Mark.

"PRETTY PLEEEEEEASE, Callie! I've been picturing you and her in Sapphic action since I heard her call you _Calliiiiopeeee_ the first time"

"MARK!"

She slapped him on the head but she couldn't be mad at him. The thought of having someone want her was nice. She knew that some of the guys she worked with had crushes on her. Sexual crushes. But somehow the thought of Arizona having a crush on her felt different. She wasn't sure why though.

"You've never been with a woman?"

"No"

"Don't you want to try it?"

"Do you want to try being with a man?"

"No"

"Well?"

"I know you like penis, Callie, but you've seriously never thought about it? Lots of women have. And you like sex" Mark was being serious which confused Callie.

"You're being weird and I am done talking about this with you" she said and got up to leave.

"Suit yourself, but if you ever get the _urge_, I want to know all about it" he winked at her.

Callie just furrowed her brow and shook her head. She was officially done talking to Mark for the day.


	20. Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20

The rest of the week passed by in a flash. It was now Sunday, and everybody had been invited to Meredith's birthday 'cake brunch'.

Arizona felt good. She had taken her feelings for Callie and put them in a little box inside her head and put a big lock on the whole thing. She felt free.

When she entered the birthday girl's apartment most of the others were already there. Including Callie.

The blonde congratulated Meredith and gave her the present she bought; an inflatable doll that looked like the one doctor all the straight women at the hospital pined for; Derek Shepherd. Everybody laughed at the gift and Meredith loved it.

Cristina brought out a giant cake and then people situated themselves around the apartment and started chatting.

Arizona stood next to Teddy at the breakfast bar.

"Hanging in there?" Teddy asked and took a sip of her coffee.

"Yep" Arizona answered "I'm fine"

"Sure" Teddy said.

"Really, I am" Arizona smiled "But," she lowered her voice "I need to get laid"

Teddy nearly spit coffee all over the birthday cake. She laughed.

"Well, that sounds healthy!"

Arizona winked at her "I know"

Arizona looked around the room. Callie was on the couch with Cristina Yang and it looked like Yang was telling some kind of crazy story that had Callie laughing.

Arizona took a deep breath and quickly convinced herself that she could do this. She could be a friend. They could become great friends. So she went and sat down next to Callie. The brunette smiled at her.

"Hey"

"Hey Calliope"

Callie's smile faded a little when she heard her full name. She remembered Mark's words about 'sapphic action'. But she shook it off.

"Did you have a good weekend?" she asked the blonde.

"Yes, it was great. I did absolutely nothing. Felt good" Arizona said.

"Me neither" Callie said "We could have done nothing together" She instantly regretted saying that, but Arizona didn't seem fazed so she thought to herself that maybe Arizona really was fine and that maybe getting out of the 'weird mode' and back into 'friends mode' wouldn't be hard after all.

"Yeah, we could have" Arizona said "Actually, if you want you could come over one night this coming week. We could have dinner and talk about _that_" She winked innocently at Callie who was relieved that the conversation was so light.

"Sure. How is Tuesday?"

"Tuesday's perfect" Arizona smiled at the brunette.

"Great! You know Cristina here was just telling me about what she spent her weekend doing"

Cristina cringed.

"Oh yeah?" Arizona said "Tell me all about it"

And just like that. Normality had been restored. Except this normality included a Tuesday night at Arizona's place _talking_ about _things_.


	21. Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21

Tuesday rolled around fast. Arizona – true to the fact that she had locked away her feelings – hadn't thought much about the fact that Callie was coming over. So little in fact that when Tuesday afternoon arrived she had to do some panicked shopping because she had no food or drinks in her fridge.

Callie came at 7. She was dressed in tight black jeans and a purple sweater that was hanging off one of her shoulders. Very girl-next-doorsy. She looked amazing.

The first half an hour was a bit awkward, but they both downed a glass of wine pretty quickly and that helped loosen things up a bit.

Arizona was cutting vegetables and Callie was sitting at the breakfast bar.

"I like this interior design much better than your 'shell shock' one" Callie said.

Arizona chuckled "Thank you. I have so much crap I was worried it would fit in this small place"

Callie laughed.

"Speaking of space, you and I must make more or less the same. How come you get to live in the palace upstairs while I'm here in a shoe box?" Arizona asked curiously.

Callie didn't answer so Arizona stopped chopping and turned around to look at the latina. Callie looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Oh sorry, you don't have to answer that" Arizona said nervously.

"No, it's okay" Callie then said "I'm just not really used to people asking me personal questions so flat out". She smiled and looked down.

Arizona took a chance and said "Well, if you've earned the money working as a high end prostitute, I won't judge".

Callie nearly spit her wine all over the table laughing.

"Oh no, no no no, I don't think I'd be cut out for a job like that"

Arizona also laughed. The image she had in her head of Callie in a lace bra suggested otherwise.

When the laughter died down Callie took a deep breath.

"I come from money" She was touching the rim of her wine glass and avoiding eye contact.

"Well duh" Arizona said. She had guessed that a long time ago. Callie's apartment. Callie's car.

"No, I mean, REAL money" Callie said and made eye contact.

"What kind of money are we talking about?" Arizona asked. She was intrigued.

"Piles of cash, live-in staff, private jet kind of money" Callie just said.

"Oh" Arizona said. She was surprised. Callie didn't seem like she held back with her money, but on the other hand didn't seem to be an over spender or casual about finances either "You grew up in Miami, so I'm guessing…drugs? Trafficking?"

Callie laughed again. Arizona smiled at her. She was glad the mood was light.

"No no, no drugs or illegal immigrants" Callie chuckled "My father is Carlos Torres, owner of Torres Enterprises" She studied Arizona's face.

It took a second, but then Arizona said "Oh. OH! Really?"

"Yes"

"Well, that is REAL money" Arizona said.

There was silence between them for a second. Callie got nervous. She didn't like talking about the money. They had always been a huge obstacle in her previous relationships. Both with friends and boyfriends. She never talked about her wealth.

"Well, I'm kind of bummed you don't have any great prostitution or drug related stories to tell" Arizona said and returned to the vegetables like Callie's wealth couldn't matter less to her.

Callie took a breath of relief and laughed "Who says I don't have stories like that?"

They both laughed. The mood was light. While Arizona cooked they joked and told funny stories from their past.

And then they ate and had some more wine.

Halfway through dinner there was a long silence. Arizona could tell that Callie wanted to say something.

She smiled at the brunette, put her utensils down, and leaned back in her chair as to prepare herself.

"Go ahead" she said to Callie "Just ask"

Callie chuckled and looked down. She felt suddenly shy.

Arizona decided to just go ahead and answer Callie's unspoken question.

"Okay, well, I think I've always known that I liked girls. There aren't a lot of non-closeted lesbian OR gay bars in the Midwest though so it wasn't till I got to college that I really _realized_. I fell in love with my roommate – a classic tale – and we were together for a bit"

Callie was listening intensely.

"I got an internship in Boston and right after I moved there I fell head over heels in love with one of the other interns"

"Keeping it in the hospital, huh?" Callie winked at Arizona.

"Yeah, well, it makes it easier to actually make time to see each other. As you probably remember, being an intern doesn't leave you much time outside of the hospital"

"Good point"

"We were together for a couple of years and it was great and I was very much in love with her, and then…uh…then uhm…"

"Then what?" Callie asked.

"She cheated" Arizona was looking down at her plate.

"Oh. I'm sorry" Callie said.

"It's okay. We were young, and maybe we were moving too fast. And she probably wasn't in it as much as I was. Looking back I think both of us were better off without it"

"And then you came here?"

"Uh…no…that all happened a few years back"

"So since then nothing?"

"Uh, yeah, I…uh…I've seen other women, but I haven't had any long relationships if that's what you refer to?"

"Why do I get the feeling that you've seen a LOT of women?" Callie pried with a smile.

Arizona looked down again.

"Uh…well…uh…"

"Relax" Callie laughed "You know Mark and I talk about stuff like that all the time"

"I know" Arizona laughed "but I'm not sharing any more until you start spilling the beans about yourself a little" She crossed her arms and lifted an eyebrow at Callie.

Callie laughed again "Okay. What do you want to know?"

Arizona asked a bunch of questions about Callie's childhood in Miami and learned that English was actually Callie's second language.

"So you had a nanny?"

"Yeah, I barely ever saw my parents those first few years of my life" Callie said. Arizona could sense that there was some sort of sadness in Callie's way of broaching the subject of her relationship with her family. She decided to push it a little.

"Are you close with them today?" Arizona knew the answer. She always talked about her own family a lot, but had only on very few occasions heard Callie mention the relatives in Miami.

Callie was silent for a few seconds. She took a sip of wine.

"I'd rather not talk about that tonight" she then said.

"That's fine" Arizona said "We can go back to my favorite subject; me" She released her dimples.

"Okay, sounds good" Callie smiled.

They talked back and forth for a few more hours. Nothing too serious. It was all very cosy.

At around 11 Callie got up to leave and Arizona walked her to the door.

"This was very nice, Arizona. Thank you" Callie said, her voice very sincere.

"Yes it was – thanks for coming, Calliope" Arizona smiled.

Callie walked off and Arizona went into the kitchen and started doing dishes. She had a very "mission accomplished" feeling about the whole night. It had been effortless and fun.

And she had managed to keep the box in her mind closed tight. She was pretty proud of herself.


	22. Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22

The next couple of weeks Callie and Arizona spent a lot of time in each other's company. They had lots of surgeries together, and on days when Arizona wasn't having lunch or coffee breaks with Teddy, she had them with Callie.

She was standing around the corner from the nurses' station on the third floor contemplating all this together time with Callie while absentmindedly flipping through a case file, when she heard Callie's name mentioned from a group of interns standing around the corner. She furrowed her brow, concentrating on hearing the rest of what the group were saying.

"I saw it on the news. They even mentioned her name and everything. Her dad is expanding the empire or some shit, opening golf courses in the Caribbean" a young guy told the rest of the group.

"Maybe she gets her allowance flown in on one of daddy's private jets every week" someone else said in a mocking tone. The interns laughed.

"She's that rich?" one of the interns asked.

"Oh, she is LOADED" came the response.

Arizona had heard enough.

"HEY!" she yelled and walked around the corner to the interns. They instantly took on a look of panic.

"Shut up, okay. Just SHUT UP!" Arizona spat. The interns were dead silent "You are talking out of your ass, and if I ever hear any one of you say another word about doctor Torres, I am gonna make sure that you never see the inside of an OR again. Do I make myself clear?"

The interns swallowed, their eyes wide. They were scared. "Yes" they all whispered.

Arizona gave them one last stare and then walked away. The interns disappeared in a hurry as well.

Callie was breathing heavily behind the door right next to the nurses' station. She had also heard everything – including the comments by the group. It had felt like being back in the school yard and it was like a hard punch to her stomach.

She had never, in her whole life though, had anyone stand up for her the way Arizona had just done. And it did something to her. It made her heart…swell.

Later, when the brunette was having lunch with Mark, she told him about the incident.

"Goddamn rats" he said "Is it me or does the standard of the intern group go down with every year that passes?"

Callie didn't say anything. She didn't care about the interns anymore. She wanted Mark to say that Arizona had done a great thing.

"She really stood up for me, you know" she started.

"Yeah, Robbins is alright" he said "My friend at Boston Children's Hospital told me she's quite the 'Don Joann'. Maybe she's used to helping damsels in distress. That's why she's so good at it" He gave her a goofy grin. She didn't like it.

"You're an idiot!" She got up "She had my back, and that means something to me"

"I think it means you really need to get laid. Whatever happened to that dude from the club? Couldn't you call him for a quickie? Wasn't he the guy who liked it really rough?"

Callie just looked at him with disdain in her eyes. Then she turned around and left.

She found Arizona sitting on a chair outside an OR. When she got close enough to the blonde she realized that the blonde had an ice pack on her left wrist and gauze around her ring and little finger.

"God, what happened, Arizona?" she asked with no little amount of concern in her voice.

Arizona jumped at the sound of Callie's voice.

"Oh hi, yeah, it's been a bad day" the blonde said and sighed "I fell down the stairs and hurt my wrist. And these two" She showed Callie the two fingers wrapped in white.

"What…and nobody paged me? I'm in ortho for Christ sake!" Callie asked.

Arizona leaned back a bit and studied Callie. Why was the latina so concerned about this whole thing. Arizona wasn't seriously hurt, and it's not like they were 'next of kin'"

"Milton looked at it. It's no big deal, Callie. I know you're the best, but it's just a sprain" Arizona said with a chuckle and watched for Callie's reaction.

Callie swallowed "Okay. Well did he at least take some x-rays to be sure?"

Arizona grabbed a brown envelope off the floor and handed it to the latina.

"Enjoy the beauty of my bones" she winked at Callie who was already pulling the x-rays out of the envelope.

Arizona was fine. Her fingers would be fine. And Callie felt a little stupid for having reacted like she did. 'Well that was a weird way to deal with that' she thought to herself as she was sitting in the staff lounge after Arizona had left to go home and sleep off the pain killers.

'I'm a concerned friend' is what Callie finally told herself. She felt satisfied with that conclusion and decided to take on the night's surgeries without giving the incident any more thoughts.


	23. Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23

Arizona stayed home the following day. She couldn't operate with her fingers for a couple of days and the pain medication had given her nausea, so she decided to take a sick day.

At 10 o'clock in the morning a text came from Callie, which in itself was a bit interesting since Arizona had never gotten a text from Callie before.

**How are you feeling? Need me to stop by with anything? -C**

Arizona smiled. 'Well that's very sweet' she thought.

**I'm fine. Except I could really drink some orange juice and my poor broken and mutilated body has not had the energy to walk aaaaall the way to the corner and aaaaall the way back, so if you could possibly swing buy the store and buy some when you get off, that would be great :-) -A**

**Your wish is my command - C**

'Oh' Arizona thought. She felt that last message twirk a little with the lock on the box in her head. She swallowed as Callie paraded across her mind in her underwear repeating what the message had said.

"Shit, Robbins. Don't start!" she hissed.

Later in the day Callie knocked on the door and went directly to check on Arizona's hand when the blonde opened the door.

"It's fiiiiiine, Calliope" she said, but that didn't stop the brunette from examining it for well over 5 minutes.

Callie sighed "Okay. I just wanted to make sure. Those brilliant surgeon hands are not to be tampered with".

They both smiled.

Callie pulled a gallon of orange juice out of her bag earning a giggle from Arizona and they sat down and had a glass together.

At some point Arizona spilled juice on the table and on the floor, so the blonde went and got some paper towels to wipe it with.

She bent over in front of Callie to get the juice that had fallen on the floor.

Callie looked at her ass.

Callie caught herself doing this.

But she didn't stop looking. For some reason her brain registered that there were no panty lines and she thus concluded that Arizona wasn't wearing any underwear under the sweat pants. She didn't know why her brain was even focusing on this, and she certainly didn't know why she was even looking at Arizona's ass, but somehow the thought of Arizona not wearing any underwear right at that moment was information that logged itself into Callie's brain.

Arizona got up and threw the paper towels away. Callie got up to leave. She felt like she needed to get out of the apartment.

"Thanks for the juice" she said and forced a smile.

"No, thank you. I mean, you brought it. You're a lifesaver!" Arizona was all dimples.

Callie left fast and practically ran up the stairs to her own apartment. She went straight to her bedroom and sat down on her bed. She shook her head. 'Arizona had a nice ass. So what if the ass was naked underneath those sweat pants. She could appreciate a nice ass on anyone' she told herself. Hadn't Bailey once told her that women look at other women more than men look at women?

"Whatever!" she said to herself.

Back in Arizona's apartment a whole different type of contemplating was going on. Arizona was on the phone with Teddy.

"I'm telling you, I'm growing, Teddy. We're friends. She's nice and I'm nice and we're just nice, good friends to each other" Arizona rambled.

"Why did you feel the need to call and tell me this?" Teddy asked unamused.

"Well, I thought that maybe you'd be interesting in knowing about my life" Arizona said.

"I am, but I know enough about your life to know that You. Need. To. Get. Laid., Arizona" Teddy said and then she hung up on the blonde.

Arizona smiled to herself. Teddy was right. It was time to try her luck in Seattle.


	24. Chapter 24

CHAPTER 24

Arizona didn't have to look very far for a willing participant in her search of sex. Mandy was leaning against the desk at the nurses' station the next morning, and Arizona had a clear view of her cleavage. She stared.

The blonde swallowed. And Mandy noticed.

"Hey there, doctor Robbins" Mandy smiled. She'd heard from one of the interns who had overheard a conversation between doctor Torres and doctor Sloan, that doctor Robbins was gay. Mandy was bisexual and found the blonde doctor hot. Noticing Arizona checking out her boobs gave her the confidence to 'push through' so to speak.

She leaned over further and whispered in Arizona's ear "See anything you like, doctor Robbins?"

Arizona's head snapped up "Uh…no…well…yeah…uhm…do you know where the Hammel kid's file is?" She had gotten caught, but as Mandy handed her the file she also noticed that Mandy didn't mind. The young nurse even winked at Arizona which stirred something in Arizona's abdomen that had been sleeping for a while.

Arizona turned and left the station. She walked to her office and from there to the locker room. She was going to change into scrubs so she could go repair a broken arm.

As she was changing her clothes the door opened and in walked Callie. Arizona hadn't thought to step away from where people would inevitably walk in because her mind was focused on what had happened with Mandy, so she was standing there in the middle of the locker room in her scrub pants and bra.

Callie stopped and stared at Arizona. Arizona stared at Callie. When the blonde heard the door open she had panicked slightly, but remembering that she was wearing a bra, she didn't think much of it.

Callie on the other hand obviously felt like she had trespassed. She turned around immediately after making eye – and eye-to-bra – contact with Arizona.

"I'm sorry…uh…I'm really sorry" she said and walked back out the door.

"It's okay" Arizona yelled after her and chuckled as the latina closed the door after her.

On the other side of the door was Callie. Flustered. She swallowed thickly. And then she ran to the cafeteria where she found Mark. She grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him into the staff lounge.

"What's going on, Torres?" he said while he finished chewing what he was eating when Callie pulled him out of lunch.

"I don't know" she said. Suddenly she had lost her courage. Actually she didn't quite know what she had wanted with Mark. Only that it had something to do with that pretty bra Arizona was wearing. A bra that was placed on the hot blonde doctor's naked torso.

She furrowed her brow.

Mark was lost "You're acting a little bit weird, Torres. Do you need some kind of medicine? Or a head exam maybe?"

Callie didn't answer. She was thinking about what Mark had said about sapphic action.

"UGH!" Mark was getting in her head.

Instead of saying anything she simply left him there and ran towards an on call room where she'd be able to collect her thoughts a bit.

She sat down on a bunk bed and rested her face in her hands. She sighed. 'Hip surgery in 20 minutes. That's what you should be concentrating on, Callie. Not Arizona's bra' she thought to herself. She nodded firmly, got up and went to scrub in.


	25. Chapter 25

CHAPTER 25

The next day Arizona found herself being drawn towards Mandy. The nurse flirted with her every chance she got, and Arizona loved it. It reminded her of her days in Boston where everything had been so easy. Lots of women. No attachments. No Callie.

She has just chatted a bit with Mandy before the nurse was needed in the OR, when Teddy walked up to the blonde in the hall.

"I need alcohol" she said to Arizona who looked puzzled.

"As in 'I have an addiction' or as in 'I need ONE drink'?" Arizona said jokingly.

"As in 'Henry is out of town'. And don't make fun" Teddy said "It's been a horrible week, and since I am your best friend, I think you should throw me a party tomorrow night"

"Oh" Arizona said. She had not seen this coming "Uh…okay"

"Great! I'll buy the drinks. Invite everyone you know" Teddy simply said and walked off.

Arizona chuckled and shook her head.

Callie had the day off. She had decided to take a long walk and now found herself in the opposite part of town from the hospital. It felt good to be away from the place. It was liberating in a way. She loved the fast pace of her job and the surgeries, but sometimes a break was needed. Her phone beeped. It was a message from Arizona.

**Party at my place tomorrow. On Teddy's request :-) Wanna come? - A**

There it was again. The feeling. A faster heartbeat? Warm chest? She didn't quite know.

**Sounds fun! I'll be there :-) - C**

She suddenly had the thought that maybe Arizona was secretly doing something to her that made her think of the blonde all the time. Was that even possible? 'Maybe I'm going crazy' she thought to herself.

When she got back to her own neighborhood she found her favorite coffee place, got a cup of hot chocolate and sat down in a corner on a couch by herself. It was getting dark out, and she was feeling…uneasy.

She sighed.

Someone sat down next to her. It was Cristina Yang who looked like she didn't really want to talk to anybody but maybe still needed a bit of company. Callie knew from Mark that Yang and Owen Hunt had been seeing each other for a few weeks and that they were finding it difficult to figure out what their relationship was.

"Hi" the brunette said.

"Hey" Yang responded.

They sat in silence for a while.

Then Callie threw all caution to the wind.

"Have you ever had sex with a woman?"

Yang's head snapped up. She stared at Callie.

"What?"

"Don't make me repeat it, please" Callie pleaded.

Yang smiled "Yes, as a matter of fact I have"

Callie looked at her in surprise "Really?"

"Yes. Is that hard to believe?"

"No no, I'm just glad I asked you then"

"You want details?" Yang asked matter-of-factly.

"No nooo, God no" Callie said "Just…broad lines? Like, did you like it?"

"Hell yeah, it was great!"

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah! Probably up there with the best sex I've ever had" Yang said and nodded her head.

"What happened?"

"Oh, I couldn't stand the girl, so I went back to boys and never looked back" And with that Yang took a sip of her coffee.

"Oh" Callie said. She should have known that any answer from Cristina Yang would be a straightforward one.

They didn't talk about it any further. But Callie thought about it. Sex with women.

Maybe she needed to talk to Arizona about this.


	26. Chapter 26

CHAPTER 26

The party at Arizona's was in full swing when Callie arrived. Everybody was there. Teddy had bought plenty of drinks, and people were helping themselves to the goods frivolously.

"Hey, Calliope" Arizona greeted the brunette.

"Oh, hey" Callie tried to sound as casual as possible but what was going through her mind was 'I have to talk to her, I have to talk to her, I have to talk to her'.

"Come have a drink" Arizona said, and Callie walked over to the breakfast bar with the blonde where she downed a full glass of whiskey while staring at the blonde who was talking to Teddy.

Then Arizona, Teddy, and Hunt engaged in some crazy dancing.

Callie needed some fresh air, so she went outside. On her way to the balcony she noticed Mandy, standing in the corner, staring at the dancing Arizona.

The latina spent a long time talking to Yang on the small balcony. And she drank. For courage.

After midnight she went back inside and asked Teddy where Arizona was. She was going to have that talk with the blonde about all this. Maybe Arizona would be able to clear everything up for her and everything would go back to normal.

Teddy didn't know where Arizona was, so Callie stepped further into the apartment, past the bathroom, towards Arizona's bedroom. The door to the bedroom was slightly ajar and the latina could see light in there. Maybe Arizona was on the phone.

She pushed the door open a little bit further and into view came a half naked nurse Mandy sitting on top of Arizona. Arizona was dressed, and Callie didn't have a full view of the scene because the door wasn't even halfway open, but it was pretty obvious where Arizona's right hand was, and what it was doing to Mandy.

Mandy moaned.

Arizona smiled devilish.

Callie's breath hitched.

The brunette took a slow step backwards. 'Oh God!'. And then she took another step. And another step. Until she was in the living room where everybody else was partying hard.

Teddy looked over and saw Callie. She also saw the expression on Callie's face. Callie was pale and the look of shock in her eyes made Teddy walk over to her.

"You okay, Callie?" she asked.

Callie was just looking into the air and it was as if she didn't even hear Teddy's question.

"Callie?" Teddy tried.

"I…I uhm…I don't feel too good…I think…I think I'm gonna go to my place and lay down for a bit" the brunette stuttered.

"Okay. You do look a bit pale. Do you want me to walk you up to your place?" Teddy asked.

"No…no…I'll be okay" the latina managed to answer.

And with that Callie left the apartment.


	27. Chapter 27

CHAPTER 27

The next day Callie found herself pacing the staff lounge. She was confused and felt like the wind had been knocked out of her. At the same time she was pretty high strung and felt like she either had to go for a very long run or get all this out of her system some other way.

She stopped in her tracks. 'Mark' she thought.

The brunette ran into the hall where Mark was standing, looking at the surgical board.

"On-call room, now!" she hissed at him as she walked past him.

It had been quite a while since him and Callie last had sex. They were best friends now. But he recognized something in her voice. Something he could not say no to. Like a plea for help. Only this was a plea for some physical help. Relief.

He immediately followed her into the on-call room and locked the door.

She was breathing heavily and looked at him with determination in her eyes.

"Really, Callie?" he asked. He still wasn't sure if sex was really what she wanted.

"I need this now, Mark" she said with urgency in her voice "Please don't ask any questions. And can we just not talk about it afterwards?"

"Sure" he just said and pulled his scrub top over his head and stepped out of his pants "No problem".

Callie took a sigh of relief and got naked. Their bodies met in the middle of the room, and Marks hands started roaming over her body. It felt safe. He knew her.

He pushed her onto the bunk mattress and lay down on top of her. They shared a lot of rough and heated kisses and Mark continued to trail his tongue down her neck towards her left nipple. He took the nipple between his teeth and bit down a little.

She could feel his erection against her leg. She swallowed.

"Tell me what you want me to do to you, Torres. And give me something dirty, please" Mark was aroused.

"Mark, stop" Callie then said all of a sudden. He continued to suck on her nipple.

"Mark, just stop" she repeated. He let go of the nipple and looked up. She looked him directly into the eyes.

"I want…I think I want…I think I want…to be doing this with Arizona" she stuttered.

Mark blinked.

"Oh God, that is HOT, Torres. Keep talking!" he said and brought his attention back to her nipple.

"No, stop, Mark! That wasn't dirty talk for you. What I mean is…I…I think I like Arizona. In that way."

Mark blinked again.

He got up.

"Then I shouldn't really be on top of you right now, should I?" he said and smiled. He had always enjoyed sex with Callie, but he treasured their friendship, and he felt like maybe now it was time for him to really be there for her. He felt some life changing things were about to happen.

Callie sat up. "God, Mark, what is going on with me?"

"You liked it"

"What?" Callie said while tying her scrub pants.

"The kiss"

"What do you mean?"

"I could tell. You liked it. I knew you were going to like it"

"Wait. You made me kiss her because you thought I'd like it?"

"Oh no, no no no, I didn't MAKE you do anything. It was a game, Callie. You, YOU crawled across that floor and kissed her. Nobody put a knife to your throat. But I could have told you what would happen because she is exactly what you need. She is smart and wonderful and caring and HOT. And you're, Jesus, Callie, you're AMAZING. You guys are a perfect match. Who cares that she is a woman! If you're thinking about it, then maybe it's because you really do want it. So go for it!"

Callie opened her mouth to say something. To deny that she was that much into Arizona. But nothing came out.

"I mean, you must REALLY like her if it enables you to say no to this" he motioned up and down his own body and winked at her. Back to being best friends.

She smiled. He pulled her in for a strong hug.

They separated and she looked up at him.

"I think…I think she's…I think she's with Mandy now…or something"

"Then you respect that. And you wait"

"But I don't even know what I want. Can't I at least talk to her?"

"No. You wait"

She rested her head on his chest and sighed.


	28. Chapter 28

CHAPTER 28

Waiting was not Callie's strong point. But witnessing the flirting between Arizona and Mandy was a whole other trial for her. At lasted two long weeks.

Callie was in line for food at the cafeteria with Arizona, and since she hadn't seen Arizona talk to Mandy for a few days, she dared and asked Arizona whether the blonde and the nurse were dating.

"We're not _together_, Calliope" Arizona said.

"But you slept together, right?" Callie asked without letting on to what she had seen the night of the party at Arizona's place.

Arizona looked at her "Yeah. A few times. Nothing special"

"And now?" Callie ventured.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you and her involved or what?"

"You're being very curious this morning" Arizona said and gave Callie a hip bump. Callie forced a small smile.

There was a silence.

"To be honest Mandy isn't really girlfriend material" the blonde then said "She's nice, but we just don't click, you know. So now we're just colleagues and I'm free to roam the streets of Seattle" Arizona threw Callie a wide smile and as she handed Callie a plate of pasta.

Arizona's smile, the way she handed her the plate, and how she said 'roam the streets' was what made everything blatantly obvious to Callie. It made the brunette drop the plate, and it shattered into a thousand pieces on the floor.

Callie was ripped out of her thoughts.

"Shit!" she said. Arizona laughed and started picking up the pieces of porcelain and food.

Callie was paralyzed.

"Are you gonna help me with this?" Arizona said, looking up at Callie, smiling.

"I…I…I have to" the brunette stuttered, turned around, and ran. Moments later she found herself in the bathroom in front of the mirror. She was breathing heavily.

Arizona came running through the door. She rushed over to the latina by the sink.

"Are you okay, Calliope?" she said and looked at Callie with worried eyes.

Callie's heart was beating so hard it felt like it was gonna burst through her chest. She barely managed to keep her cool.

"Yeah…uhm…yeah, I just got a bit dizzy. I'm fine. It's nothing, really" Callie said. She wiped her brow with a paper towel and forced a smile at Arizona.

"You sure?" the blonde asked. You look a little pale.

"Really, I'm sure. It's nothing" Callie lied.

"You should eat something. You were on your feet for 4 hours operating this morning" Arizona was concerned and the sound of compassion in the blonde's voice didn't nothing to stop Callie's heart from melting.

"You know, I think I will just head home and lie down for a while" Callie said. She wanted, NEEDED, to get out of there and away from Arizona's blue eyes, and the smell of Arizona's shampoo, and the feeling that shot through her back and stomach when Arizona touched her lower back the way she was at that moment.

"Okay, well, do you want me to walk you home?" Arizona's asked.

"No, no no, I'll be fine" Callie said. She looked into Arizona's eyes and put on her most reassuring look so that the blonde wouldn't be worried.

"Okay" Arizona then said "Text me later?"

Callie swallowed.

"I will"


	29. Chapter 29

CHAPTER 29

Callie didn't text Arizona, and she didn't answer the call she got from the blonde later that day either.

Around midnight – when Callie knew Arizona was getting off work – a message arrived from the peds surgeon.

**Hope you're feeling better? -A**

**Yeah, I slept a little, and now I feel better :-) - C**

**Great! :-) Thought you'd like to know that we're all planning on going to that place Hunt has been talking about on Friday. Good music. Let me know if you need anything - A**

'Oh God!' Callie thought. 'I can't keep this up. I can't just be her friend who goes dancing with her and pretends like nothing'

And just like that, Callie decided she no longer gave a fuck. She liked Arizona. And she was gonna have to talk to the peds surgeon about it. She shivered at the thought. Maybe some dancing on Friday would be good. Maybe it would loosen Callie up enough for her to have the courage to finally talk to Arizona. Maybe.

**Thanks :-) I'm up for Friday - C**


	30. Chapter 30

CHAPTER 30

Friday came and it was a horrible day at the hospital. A high school gym hall had collapsed, and the paramedics just kept bringing in injured high school kids. It was all hands on deck all day.

By 4 o'clock all the kids were treated and stabilized. Not a single life was lost, and the team of surgeon friends were ready to celebrate big time.

Since some of the surgeons – including Arizona – still had a couple of hours left of the shift, they decided to all go their separate ways and then just meet at this new club downtown.

Callie was in a good mood. She'd barely seen Arizona since the incident in the cafeteria a few days before and she was looking forward to spending time with her – even if it was going to be in a crowded club.

She was also nervous though. She had no plan as to how she was going to handle this new 'situation' and whenever she thought about it, it gave her goose bumps. Fear and excitement making her body react.

It took her a whole hour to figure out what to wear. She opted for a tight red dress that stopped right above the knee and some black heels. She let her long, dark, wavy hair hang loose.

When she stepped out of the taxi in front of the club, she spotted Mark, Hunt, and Yang at the entrance. They all went in together and found Meredith, Bailey, Henry, and a few other people from the hospital at the bar. Arizona and Teddy still hadn't arrived.

It didn't take long though before the front door opened, and the two friends came into the club. Callie's eyes were immediately glued to Arizona. She was wearing a blue dress that showed enough cleavage that she received stolen lustful glances from a lot of people as her and Teddy moved through the crowd. The blonde looked hot! Callie swallowed. She downed the drink she was holding and ordered another one. She was going to need some liquid courage.

They all just stood at the bar for a few hours, drinking, laughing, having fun. Callie's eyes were constantly on Arizona. Whenever their eyes met, Arizona smiled at Callie which made Callie's breath hitch.

Then Yang decided they all had to go dance, so the group made their way to the dance floor. To begin with they all sort of danced together, but then they slowly split up. Yang was dancing with Hunt, Callie with Mark, and Arizona with Teddy.

"Are you ever going to do something about it?" Mark asked Callie. He had noticed how Callie's attention was on the blonde constantly.

Callie sighed "Yeah. But how do I do it?"

"Use your magic" he said with a wink. Then he grabbed her around the waist and spun her around so she was facing Arizona who was now dancing alone because Teddy had left for the bathroom. He gave Callie a small push so she got even closer to Arizona.

Arizona smiled.

'Those fucking dimples!'

The dance floor was crowded and the two women quickly got pushed closer and closer to each other.

Callie held her breath and took a step towards Arizona. All of a sudden they were very, very close.

What happened next happened so fast that it caught Arizona completely off guard.

Callie body was up against her own. She saw how dark Callie's eyes were. She could feel Callie's hips moving against her own. Callie's hands on her hips.

The lock on the box in her head started stirring. What was going on? This was too much.

Callie leaned into Arizona so that their cheeks were touching and Callie's mouth was almost touching Arizona's ear. The blonde could feel the latina's hot breath on her neck. And all of a sudden she could also feel Callie grabbing her hands and placing them on the brunette's hips. Callie was impossibly close. The latina leaned her head back slightly and made eye contact with Arizona.

The blonde furrowed her brow. What was that in Callie's eyes? And suddenly she realized.

Arizona pushed Callie away and bolted out the door of the club. Callie ran after her. When the latina got outside she caught a glimpse of Arizona's blonde hair rounding the corner and going into the alley next to the club. Callie followed. Arizona could feel the brunette coming after her so she turned around. Her breathing was heavy and she was irate.

"You can't…you…you can't ask me to be your friend and then dance like that! UP AGAINST ME. PLEASE, Callie. Be reasonable. PLEASE!"

Callie just stood there and stared at Arizona. She wanted to say so many things, but nothing but fast breathing came out. She looked bewildered.

Arizona slumped her shoulders "I'm gonna go home". She took a few steps forward to pass Callie, but Callie grabbed her arm.

"Please, Arizona, wait"

"Callie…I'm tired…and I" She didn't get to finish her words before Callie had taken a step forward and leaned in so that their lips were less than an inch apart. Callie paused for a second as to gather the courage to close the distance, and she then softly touched Arizona's lips with her own.

The kiss was barely there and lasted less than a second. Mark had rounded the corner. From where he was standing, he could see Callie but not Arizona.

"Torres! What are you doing in there? Let's go! Taxi is waiting"

Callie looked at Arizona. Arizona was very pale, and Callie looked like she needed Arizona to say something. None of them said anything. Callie turned around and walked towards Mark "Coming!" she yelled.

Whatever else Callie said to Mark, Arizona didn't hear. She stood, paralyzed, for a few minutes before the impact of the kiss hit her. She bent over, leaning against the cold brick wall. She had problems breathing. And she didn't know if she was mad or just confused.

She left the alley in a haze and walked all the way home.


	31. Chapter 31

CHAPTER 31

Arizona woke up with a start. She had fallen asleep on the couch in her sweat pants and a bra. The blue dress and her heels tossed in a corner.

She was disoriented but knew she had woken up because someone was knocking on the door. She slowly got up, threw a t-shirt on, walked to the door, and opened it.

It was Callie. Looking stunning in tight black jeans and a low-cut black shirt.

Arizona was hung over and her body and mind were not capable of doing anything but to stare at Callie. Wondering if she was there to completely mess her up.

"Arizona"

Arizona blinked. Then she took a step back and moved to close the door again, but Callie stepped forward and held the door open.

"Arizona" she tried again.

"No, Callie. No. You don't get to do this!" Arizona turned around and walked into the apartment.

"I'm sorry" the brunette started "I didn't know…I…It just happened all of a sudden…And I don't know…"

"You KNOW I had a crush on you. And it wasn't fucking easy, Callie." the blonde shot back "and then you go and pull a stunt like that. I am not a fucking lesbian toy you can use for party games!"

Realization dawned on Callie. Arizona thought she had just been teasing. That what happened on the dance floor had been a game.

"No, Arizona. No. I…I…I wasn't…It wasn't a game" The brunette was now desperate to get the truth out, but her words were deceiving her.

Callie stepped up to the blonde but was pushed away. Callie grabbed the Arizona's arm, and pushed the shorter woman up against the wall.

They were both breathing heavily, and Arizona was at a loss for words. Callie's eyes had turned dark like they did at the club, and Arizona thought she spotted something in them. Something she couldn't quite identify. She didn't have to though, because the answer to her unspoken questions came a second later.

Callie's lips were on hers again.

Arizona was in shock. She just let it happen. And the softness of Callie's lips made little bursts of light appear in front of her eyes.

Callie pulled back from the kiss and didn't break eye contact.

They stared at each other for a second.

"Arizona"

Arizona swallowed thickly. She couldn't grasp what was going on.

"Please. I need you, Arizona. Please" the brunette whispered "Please!" The latina's eyes were pleading.

Badass Torres was sexy as hell. But vulnerable Callie blew Arizona's mind.

Callie's words blew the lid off the box in Arizona's mind and she crashed her lip against Callie's.

She pushed the brunette back a bit and made eye contact again.

"If we do this, we can't take it back, Calliope. Do you understand?"

Callie took a step back. She pulled the black top over her head, kicked off her shoes, opened her pants and pulled them down and kicked them to the side. She was now standing in front of Arizona in the most amazing black lace bra and panties.

Arizona swallowed thickly. She took the undressing as a 'yes'.

Arizona grabbed the latina's hand and dragged her into the bedroom. The blonde swiftly took off her own sweat pants and shirt, and the two women were now standing in front of each other in their underwear.

Arizona stepped forward and connected their lips. She felt the latina's hands on her hips and the brunette's touch made her feel like maybe her chest was going to burst wide open.

Arizona let her tongue follow the edge of Callie's lower lip, asking for permission to enter. Callie's eyes were closed and she slowly opened her mouth a little, granting Arizona access. The kiss deepened and Arizona trailed her fingers down Callie's back and grabbed the brunette's ass in a soft hold. Then the blonde's hands found the edge of the brunette's panties and played with the lace at the top for a few seconds.

Callie nervously breathed out.

"You'll tell me to stop…" Arizona said while she let her fingers slip into Callie's panties to cup the latina's mound "…if I go too far"

Callie gasped and her hips jerked forward. She started fearing that her legs were gonna give out. That's how good it felt to have Arizona's hands on her.

Arizona backed Callie up against the bed and the brunette lay down, resting on her elbows. Her eyes were now black, and she watched the blonde intensely as Arizona took off her bra and her panties.

She had had a feeling that Arizona would be gorgeous but she was still taken aback by how perfect Arizona looked in the dim light.

The blonde crawled onto the bed, hovering over Callie. "I'm naked and you're not. Unfair" she said. Callie smiled into the kiss the blonde was giving her.

Arizona then reached around the brunette and opened her bra exposing the latina's beautiful breasts.

Arizona's breath hitched and she felt her heart skip at the sight of Callie's naked torso, but she managed to continue onto pulling off Callie's panties.

Now they were both naked. Arizona was looking down on the brunette, and realization dawned on Callie. This was happening. And it was her first time.

"I…I'm not sure what to do" Callie said nervously.

Arizona leaned down and kissed Callie's neck. She trailed her tongue down to Callie's collarbone and then up to Callie's mouth.

"You'll know" Arizona said reassuringly "Just relax"

The huskiness of Arizona's voice went straight to Callie's core.

Arizona took Callie's right nipple in her mouth and sucked on it lightly. It made Callie gasp. The latina was now shivering with pleasure.

Arizona kept sucking and lightly biting Callie's nipple while she ran her hand up and down Callie's side. She then proceeded to suck and nip her way down Callie's body until her face was mere inches from Callie's throbbing clit.

She could smell Callie's arousal and it nearly made her pass out with want.

Callie looked down at Arizona and swallowed thickly. The blonde made eye contact and gave Callie the sweetest smile. Callie's heart swelled.

Then Arizona lowered her mouth and ran her tongue along Callie's folds causing the brunette to jerk her hips upwards.

Arizona then let the tip of her tongue touch Callie's clit before she took it in her mouth and sucked it lightly.

"Oh" Callie yelped "Oh God, Arizo…" She tangled her hands in the blonde's hair. Arizona smiled against Callie's sex.

She continued licking and sucking causing the brunette to moan louder and louder. She then dipped a single finger into Callie's folds to collect some moisture and proceeded to slowly penetrate Callie. The brunette whimpered as Arizona added a second finger and started pumping in and out slowly.

The blonde kept using her tongue and enjoyed the sight of the light sheet of sweat that was now covering Callie's body.

Callie was moving her hips in perfect rhythm with Arizona's hand.

The blonde crawled up Callie's body while still pumping her fingers in and out of the brunette. Callie seemed completely lost in pleasure as Arizona attacked her neck with soft bites. The blonde could feel that Callie was already close. Arizona started swiping her thumb across Callie's clit while still working her fingers inside and then whispered "Come for me, Calliope".

And that's all Callie needed.

She felt like everything inside of her was contracting, and her hips were out of her control. Her abs twitched wildly.

She buried her face into Arizona's shoulder and whimpered as the waves of pleasure rushed over her.

It took the brunette a few minutes to come down from her high. She let her head fall back on the bed and her chest was moving up and down in heavy breaths.

Arizona had made her come. And it had felt amazing.

She moved her head to the side a little and looked into Arizona's eyes. 'God! Those blue eyes!'

She suddenly felt the urge to touch Arizona. She swallowed and gathered her courage. She so wanted to make Arizona feel good, so she reached down between their bodies and connected her hand with Arizona's hot centre. The feeling made her heart skip a few beats. She let a couple of fingers wander in between Arizona's wet folds which elicited a moan from the blonde. Callie got confident. She moved her fingers up and down a few times before she slowly entered the blonde with a finger.

She couldn't believe what this feeling was doing to her. Having Arizona like this. The blonde was moaning in her ear.

Callie added another finger and rubbed the base of her palm against Arizona's clit to create more friction.

Arizona lost it. The box in her head long emptied all over her heart and soul, spilling her feelings for Callie into every little nook and cranny of her body.

The brunette kissed her with urgency and the feeling of Callie's hand between her legs, Callie's fingers inside of her, Callie's lips on hers made the surroundings fade and sprinkles of light appear behind Arizona's eyelids.

And then she came. With a loud "AH!". And she had to grab Callie's hand to stop the brunette from moving it any more. The power of the orgasm so big it made everything feel so good and hurt so bad at the same time.

The blonde nearly fainted.

Her arms fell out to the sides and it felt like her whole body melted into the mattress.

For a minute or so she didn't dare move. Scared that maybe the feeling would go away.

Then she opened her eyes and looked directly into Callie's and even though she could smell the sex in the air she still almost couldn't believe what had just happened.

They laid there for a few minutes. The heavy breathing slowly died out but they never broke eye contact.

"Please don't ever leave this room again" Arizona said.

"Are you kidding me?!" Callie said "I'm changing my address to this bed".

They both chuckled and moved so close that their bodies where touching from heads to toes, their arms and legs intertwined.

Arizona pulled the cover over them and they fell asleep.

THE END


End file.
